Fourteen Days Of The AntiZemyx
by MidnightSchemer13
Summary: NO BASHING! 2-week challenge! What is an anti-Zemyx you say? Just a story with Demyx, Zexion, & the gang having fun with lots of hilarity & fluff! Other pairings. AU. A collection of mostly unrelated oneshots starring Zexion and Demyx! Enjoy! slight yaoi
1. Won't You Please Turn That Down?

**Woooo! I finished!  
>Okay guys, here's the deal: Fourteen Days of the Anti-Zemyx is a two-week challenge where I update one chapter per day. Each chapter will be a mostly unrelated oneshot set in the same universe. <strong>**I decided that this would be a fun idea (y'know, why not?), but I've never _ever _done or read something like this, so I'd like feedback please, on how I'm doing. It's not really Zemyx if they're not together, right? Highest rating will be T. No deaths :) Just mostly fluff and friendship, with light yaoi. NO AkuRoku.******

**The Anti-Zemyx Day One**

**Title: **Won't You Please Turn That Down?

**Genre: **Humor

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It's going to be a _long _Saturday...

**A/N: **Plot got lost in translation xD in the beginning at least. **Translations at the bottom A.N. **Enjoy!

* * *

><p>The early morning sun gently cast her rays over the already-bustling city, and began tinting the clouds around her a gentle pink and orange. Cars were already backed up in traffic, their drivers irately waiting for the lights to change so that they could go to work.<p>

It was six o'clock.

But while several people were already beginning their day early, in a three-story apartment nestled comfortably in a quieter part of the city, quite far from the lines of cars, none of the twelve tenants inside were awake yet. Gentle snores could be heard through the thin, painted walls as the sleepers enjoyed their first holiday morning off.

It was Saturday, and it was the first day of a week-long vacation for those attending Ansem University. Unfortunately for many, that also meant that they were assigned large, intimidating amounts of homework.

One of the tenants, a slate-haired young man named Zexion Evenson, had intended to tackle his workload as soon as everyone left for the day, but settled for snuggling deeper into his warm covers for the moment. His sixty pages of homework could wait.

Hours passed quietly, and before long, it was nine o'clock, and another person was stirring. He groaned and slowly blinked awake, wincing slightly as the bright light streaming in from the window attacked his eyes. He fluttered his long, fair lashes to nudge the sleep out of them, and reluctantly rolled out of his bed and onto the floor, wrapped about in his blankets like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

"_Oof_."

In a flash, he jumped up and threw the blankets off, awake and slightly disoriented. The sudden change of pressure left him seeing stars.

"_Ugh...My head..._" He shook it to dispel the last of the grasps of slumber, and looked down at his boxer-clad body before rolling his neck. The fair-haired youth walked over to his dresser and pulled out a shirt and some faded jeans and shrugged them on, and promptly went back to sleep.

He managed about two minutes before his idiot brother on the top bunk shook him awake.

"_Roxas! _Roxas, wake up!"

Roxas swatted his brother's hands away and curled up tighter into a little ball, and reached for the blankets that weren't there, groping blindly in midair before realizing that they were on the floor.

"What do you want, Sora?" he mumbled. Sora rolled his eyes and pouted his lips childishly.

"It's Saturday! Aren't we going to the arcades downtown? Remember? You _promised_." He made sure to add just enough of a whine at the end to bring forth pity instead of annoyance. He and his brother were planning to go downtown to have some fun for _ages_, but always something got in the way; Roxas, feeling bad for his younger brother, had promised to take him the first day of break, but as he was _sleeping_, they couldn't. Said older brother opened an eye and glared at the crestfallen boy for a moment before sighing and giving in. Even if he was not a morning person _at all_.

"Alright, alright, I'm up, I'm up," he said, and allowed himself to be dragged out of bed by his now-excited brother. Sora let out a shout of triumph and quickly sped downstairs to the first floor to grab some breakfast. He paused midway down the stairs, and walked back up.

"Er, Roxas?" The fair-haired youth's cerulean eyes, the exact same shade as his own, flickered sideways to his sibling. "I just remembered. I need to call Riku. And it's important. So yeah. Can you...?" Roxas nodded and cracked a small smile.

"Yeah, I'll let you talk to your boyfriend in peace," he teased as he left the room, shutting the door behind him, grinning at Sora's slight blush. Even with the wooden door closed, he could still hear Sora's indignant growl.

"_I am NOT gay!_"

* * *

><p>The ten other people in the building slowly began their morning routines as one by one they woke up. On the top floor, three young high-school girls began sluggishly waking up as the sun kissed them through the open window, ignoring the white curtains fluttering gently in the passing breeze. The girl on the top bunk had short red hair, longer in the front than in the back; her roommate on the bottom bunk had black hair in an even cut, but near the same length as her friend's. In the room next door, a girl with long, pale blonde hair yawned awake and sat up on her bed, stretching her stiff limbs as she was released from the clutches of sleep. She carried the air of someone kind and sweet, but with a tiny, well-hidden mischievous side. She stood up and changed from her white lace (opaque) nightgown to a paint-splattered shirt with bellbottomed jeans to pair. After changing, the girl walked out of her room and into the others', and gently prodded the half-awake teens.<p>

"Kairi? Xion? Wake up," she said in a soft voice. The girl on the top bunk groaned.

"Naminé, it's too early..." she mumbled into her pillow. Naminé smiled devilishly.

"Oh, Kairi, I'm sorry for waking you at _eight past nine. _I merely thought that, since we would be going shopping at noon, you'd like to get ready for––" Kairi quickly jumped off the top bunk and went straight to the vanity in the next corner of the room.

"Shoot, I forgot. Thanks!" she said with an easy smile, and began vigorously brushing her hair with a red hairbrush with _Property Of Kairi Hikari _scrawled on the back with a permanent marker, all the while softly humming a from her favourite band, The Gullwings. After a moment, she paused, and turned back to look at the blonde. "Er, could you wake my sister? I'd rather not get hit this early in the morning." Naminé smiled at the autographed Gullwings poster (tacked onto the wall with a strange assortment of nails, screws, and thumbtacks) she was looking at. To everyone living in the apartment, it was common knowledge that to wake a sleeping Xion meant risking getting hit by her, and the risk was great for everyone except––

"Scratch that, get her boyfriend to do it, will you? If you get hurt and miss the trip, that would _seriously _suck." The young blonde sighed and nodded, and began to leave the room when Kairi's voice called out again.

"And can you wake Larxene? Thanks!" She rolled her eyes and walked away, taking care to close the door as she passed her room and went to Larxene's.

_I think she's already awake, though..._

Larxene Foudre was a twenty-four year old woman as quick-tempered and sharp-tongued as her last name implied. She worked as a waitress at some bar downtown, but did many other odd jobs besides (none of which she would explain to the younger tenants, leading Sora to guess, to the amusement of the adults, that she worked as an undercover spy), as well as act as a chauffeur for her three young friends (or often-tolerated-acquaintances) occupying the rooms next door in the large house. She enjoyed leisurely mornings, but was normally awake before anyone else.

Naminé knocked on the door thrice and waited for an answer. After none came, she gingerly opened the door and walked in, blushing pink once her brain registered the scene before her.

Larxene was not alone in her bed: she lay curled up against a larger, muscled and _bare-chested _pink-haired man. Naminé immediately looked away and focused her attention to the floor. The tan-coloured fake wood had _extremely _interesting patterns, something she had never noticed before. She stood in the doorway and cleared her throat.

"Um, Miss Foudre?Are... are you awake? Today's the shopping trip at noon, and Kairi..." The blonde woman shifted underneath her covers and moaned.

"I _told _you, it's _Larxene,_ there's no _Miss _in front of my name until I get married; and like hell I am. Yeah, I'm awake. I'm just laying here since it's warm and _so comfortable..._" Naminé's blush deepened in colour, earning her a smirk from the woman.

"I don't need to know, thanks," she said timidly. "I'll, uh, be downstairs." She quickly left and closed the door behind her. The man lying next to Larxene shifted as well, placing a soft, tired kiss on her lips as he opened his blue eyes and stroked down her face with the back of his palm slowly.

"You know, when you get married, it will be _Mrs_, not _Miss_." Larxene snorted as she leaned into his touch.

"You mean _if _I get married."

* * *

><p>The blonde teen quickly went down three sets of stairs and entered the den of the house. Her blue eyes quickly scanned the room as she looked for Xion's boyfriend. She smiled when she saw Saix, a quiet, intimidating blue-haired man with a scarred face sleeping peacefully on the couch. It was only when he was sleeping, and rare times besides, when he did not bring forth a slightly frightened reaction from him. But he was not who she was looking for.<p>

Naminé searched the living room, kitchen, and dining room before she finally found her target.

In one of the six cars parked outside, a dark-haired man, with his locks styled into gravity-defying spikes, lay asleep in the backseat of his Corvette. The girl sighed in exasperation and tried opening a door.

It was locked.

She pulled again, though she knew it was no good, and resorted to knocking -_loudly_- on the windows.

"Vanitas? Vanitas! Wake up! Please?" The figure inside did not move, and Naminé seriously considered just going back upstairs and prodding Xion awake with a yardstick, when suddenly a dark-haired man with impossibly spiked hair walked up behind her, lowering his lips to her right ear.

"I've _been _awake, you silly girl. It's so strange how, while your voice is so soft, it can get loud when you want it to. Try not to break my car's windows with your knocking," he murmured in a silky voice. Naminé jumped and whirled around.

"V-Vanitas! But––" Vanitas straightened up and grinned, before reaching into a pocket of his black leather jacket and taking out a key. Wordlessly, he unlocked his car's doors and reached in, roughly grabbing the person by his neck and bringing him out.

"_This_," he said, pulling it up so that it hung from his hand, "is a mannequin made to look _exactly _like me. That way," he thrust the mannequin back into the car and shut the door, locking it, "no one steals my car. What did you want?"

Naminé stared at the life-like mannequin, nearly identical to Vanitas (though with plastic skin, a fake leather jacket, and permanently closed eyes), and shivered, before remembering that Vanitas was still there (and he had an extraordinary thin sense of patience) and looked up at him.

"Oh. Will you wake Xion, please? I'm going to go make breakfast..." she trailed off and stared at him strangely. "Where _were _you anyways? I couldn't find you inside the house."

Vanitas merely smirked again and crossed his arms.

"That might be due to the fact that I _wasn't _in the house. I was sleeping on the roof: the stars were bright last night." He laughed at Naminé's expression of surprise and walked away, entering the house, to wake his girlfriend up. She stared after him before giving the mannequin one last glance and followed him in.

* * *

><p>Naminé was surprised to find that there was someone else already in the kitchen. Zexion, the college junior, and her unofficial friendboyfriend (as they weren't _dating_, but seemed like they were. And it wasn't quite friends-with-benefits, as they both opposed the idea), was busy cooking..._something_. It smelled delicious, whatever it was, and she unconsciously stepped closer. Zexion turned around and looked down at her, a slight smile playing at his lips.

"Don't I even warrant a 'hello'?" he asked. Naminé blushed and immediately looked down.

"Sorry. Good morning, Zexion," she amended politely. Zexion nodded and turned back to the stove.

"Good morning, Naminé. Would you like some peppers in your omelette? They're quite fresh." The blonde nodded, and, realizing he couldn't see her actions, voiced her thoughts.

"Yes, please. Would you like some help?" Zexion turned back to her and smiled, shaking his head.

"No, thank you. At least, not with cooking. Would you mind calling Roxas down?" Naminé smiled and shrugged, before leaving the kitchen and bumping into Sora's brother.

"O-oh. Sorry. Hi, Roxas," she said embarrassedly. Roxas gave her a small smile before walking past her and standing next to Zexion.

"Yeah?" Zexion rolled his eyes at the youth's impudence.

"Would you like your toast buttered or spread with marmalade?" Roxas shrugged.

"I don't care. Anything's fine, thanks." He moved away and sank down into an overstuffed purple armchair (the fabric clashed horribly with his hair) and stared at nothing, his face the utter picture of boredom.

Zexion shook his head and sighed, before balancing several plates on his hands and arms and moving to the dining room to place them. He also took out forks, knives, and spoons, as well as coffee mugs for those who drank the beverage, and clear glasses for those who didn't.

Naminé watched in fascination as Zexion quickly served food onto most of the plates. Sora's, Saix's, Vanitas's, Marluxia's, and Larxene's he left empty. She looked at him curiously as he wiped down the counters in the kitchen.

"What's with the breakfast today?" she asked, and winced.

_That was so not the right way to word it... _

Zexion stood up and looked at her impassively.

"Do you not like your food? Perhaps you wanted something else?" Naminé shook her head quickly.

"No! I mean, that's not what I meant. What I said... it came out wrong. I meant... why are you cooking breakfast for us? You don't normally, so... not to sound rude, but why are you so nice?"

Zexion folded his arms across his toned chest (slightly visible underneath his band t-shirt) and gave her a tiny smirk.

"I understand what you're asking. Why? I made breakfast for most of us because everyone except me will be going somewhere today, and they should leave feeling reasonably fed. I also know that since everyone will be gone, I will be able to focus all of my attention on finishing my homework today and enjoying the rest of break without the worry of procrastinating. Your omlette is getting cold."

Naminé blinked for a moment as Zexion's words processed through her mind and she blushed.

"Oh! Sorry. Thank you." She walked over to her seat and began eating her breakfast, smiling as the burst of colourful flavour warmed her mouth.

"This is delicious, Zexion!" she said happily, and began eating some more, but stopped when she noticed the seat in front of her was lacking a plate. Or any utensils, for that matter.

"Zexion... won't you eat breakfast?" He shook his head.

"Why not?"

"I'm not hungry. Eat up, Naminé. Xion's about to walk downstairs with _him_." Naminé didn't question how he knew such things (it was a normal occurrence by now; he had very fine-tuned senses) and continued eating. Sure enough, two dark-haired people entered the living room, smiling and laughing.

"Good morning, Naminé!" greeted Xion cheerfully. It was hard to believe that this was the same girl who would (albeit accidentally) slug anyone waking her up in the morning. Vanitas gave the blonde a small, knowing smile. She blushed the shade of a light-pink rose.

"Hey, Morning Angel. Did your boyfriend cook all this?"

"Zexion made it, yes. Xion, where's Kairi?" Xion made an exasperated gesture.

"She's getting dressed. _Again. _お姉ちゃん can't make up her mind on what she wants to wear to go _shopping_." Xion gave an apologetic smile and gasped as the scent of breakfast reached her nose.

"It smells so _delicious!_" Xion and Vanitas sat down in their seats; Xion muttered a hasty "いただきます" before picking up her chopsticks and taking a bite of the freshly-cooked rice with the fresh fish, smiling as she swallowed.

"おいしいよ, Zexion!" She hadn't noticed that she had fallen back into her native tongue, but Zexion understood several languages and thus replied in perfect Japanese:

"ありがとう. どうぞ, ごゆっくり."

Vanitas rolled his eyes.

"_Show off_." Naminé smiled. The college sophomore had no room to talk. Zexion cast Xion's boyfriend an amused glance.

"Surely you must have known that your Asian girlfriend speaks Japanese? Do you not know any of her tongue?" Naminé both winced and grinned at the accidentally bad choice of words. Vanitas smirked.

"Oh, believe me, I know _plenty _about her tongue. How warm and–– " Naminé sneezed into her shoulder to stop Vanitas from continuing.

"––_bless_ _you_––but as for language, I only know a few words. Still, Xion speaks English, so it's okay." Zexion merely raised an eyebrow and looked to the staircase. Two more people came walking down. One, with impossibly spiked scarlet hair ludicrously higher than Vanitas's, and the other with a dirty-blond mullet-hawk, with a few individual strands falling into his face.

"Good morning, Axel, Demyx," Naminé greeted politely. Axel smiled and gave her a two-fingered salute.

"Yo. Something smells good." Demyx smiled happily at Naminé.

"Hey, Nams! You didn't come wake us up this morning! That was really strange of you. 'Coz of that, _Axel _woke me up." He gave a mock-shiver, flicking a grin at Axel, who rolled his eyes and sat down in his chair, but then got up as he noticed Roxas dozing off in the armchair. He walked over, tickled him awake, and led him to the table to eat. Sora's brother gave the redhead a glare (Axel grinned back cheekily) before eating the toast Zexion had made for him.

The young blonde bowed her head.

"I'm sorry. I was a little... preoccupied." Demyx shook his head and sat down next to Zexion's chair.

"Nah, it's cool. At least he didn't wake me up like he did on Christmas––"

Naminé quickly stifled her laughter with her hand; it wouldn't do to burst out into giggles about the atrocious event that happened almost nine months ago, and it _certainly _wouldn't do to even _think _of that subject during a meal. Her blue eyes glanced at the temporary cook.

Zexion seemed to be having trouble not laughing as well, though he hid it behind another mask of slightly reproachful boredom.

"Wrong thing to be thinking about during breakfast, Demyx. Axel, syrup for your pancakes?"

The redhead took the maple syrup with a muffled "Fanks" (his mouth had some food in it) and promptly drowned his breakfast in it.

Xion looked mortified ("_You're ruining the breakfast!_"), as did Naminé, but Axel merely ignored them with a knowing smirk on his face. As he ate, Saix got up from his place on the couch and went upstairs to the second-floor bathroom to wash up. Not five minutes later, he came back down and wrinkled his nose at the overwhelming scent of sweetness.

"Only _you _would use that much sauce on your pancakes, Axel," he said stiffly. The redhead looked up from his half-empty plate.

"'It's _syrup_, you moron, and besides, who cares? It's my money and my health. Have some breakfast, Sai." Reluctantly, Saix sat down two seats away from Naminé and reached for an apple.

"Speaking of money," piped up Demyx, who had already polished off his bacon and eggs; "what's up with the rent this month? We've got what, ten days left?" Xion and Vanitas swiftly left the table (Vanitas with a breadroll still in his mouth), much to the amusement of Roxas.

"Hah. Freeloaders." Demyx gave a faintly disappointed face.

"Don't call them _that_," he said. He mused for a moment, and his face lit up comically (Naminé, Axel, and Zexion couldn't resist laughing) as he thought of something. "Call them _non-payers_. And call Vanitas a minor. He _hates _that."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't _look _like one anymore, so it's hardly working in our favour," pointed out Axel over a cup of apple juice. Demyx shrugged and Zexion rolled his eyes.

"_Anyway_, back to the topic at hand: seeing as the Kairi's and Xion's godfather is paying half of our bills, we're left with the other half, yes? And Saix, seeing as you're his assistant, you know that to be true." The scarred man nodded slowly.

"Yes, Mr. Xemnas is paying exactly half of our bills: no more, no less." Axel nodded thoughtfully.

"And I've got my job, yeah? So we've got that money... And The Lovely Couple are bringing home money as well... Hey Zex, you still have your job?" Zexion narrowed his eyes.

"Of course..." The redhead ignored the suddenly hostile waves of aura flowing his way and quickly counted up the total on his fingers.

"So... If Demyx plays on the streets for at least five nights and gets over ten dollars a night, or gets a job at the café and gets paid fifteen dollars an hour... we'll have just the right amount for this month's." Roxas groaned.

"We'll be short on money _again? _See, _this _is what happens when you invite your brother over to play a video-game marathon with the rest of us!" Axel laughed at the memory.

"Oh, but wasn't it fun? I beat you in most of the games! And when we teamed up, remember how long we played?"

"That's my point. We played too long, and now our electricity bill's higher than last. We might be ShinRa's favourite customers with all their bills!"

"Hey, Ax, isn't Reno like, your brother? And doesn't he work at, like, ShinRa?" Kairi, who had entered unnoticed into the dining room whilst they were conversing, suddenly asked the redhead. Zexion took out a ladle from the kitchen for Kairi's breakfast of Chinese soup. She struck a posture that showed off her outfit for the day: a black, off-the-shoulder Gullwings t-shirt hugging her figure snugly with a white tanktop underneath, paired with frayed, designer skinny jeans and silver-buckled black flats, as well as a black choker with a small, heart-shaped charm with _Gullwings Aren't Just Goth _engraved on it. Naminé wondered for a moment just how many outfits Kairi had gone through before she picked this one. As soon as Saix saw Kairi's shirt, he left the table and went upstairs. The redheaded man watched his friend leave, then nodded, and Kairi winked at him.

"So, maybe he's trying to––" She grinned as Axel put up his hands. He knew perfectly well of what she was about to ask, and _hated _her Reno/conspiracy theories.

"We are _not _going there."

"Going where?" Everyone turned to look around as Sora entered the picture. Kairi opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Sora swayed on the spot and clutched at his head. Roxas stood up slowly and watched his brother carefully: sometimes his brother had 'attacks', and he would suffer excruciating headaches from a minute to up to an hour. Roxas used to suffer the exact same thing, but hadn't had an episode for years. Zexion unfolded his arms and stepped a little closer, and Kairi's hand went to her mouth from fright. Demyx stood up as well.

"I have a headache..." mumbled Sora weakly as he placed one hand against the wall for support. Tough serious the situation was, Axel couldn't resist slipping in a little joke: he _hated_ serious atmospheres, and it was practically his job, no, his calling in _life_ to cheer others up when situations were bad, even if it was only to make things more comfortable for him.

"No sex for you tonight," he smirked lightly, though from some eyes, it merely looked like a mischievous grin. Naminé got the joke and laughed softly. Sora glanced at Axel in confusion.  
>"What?" Zexion quickly hit the redhaired man's head with the handle of his ladle (<em>"Ow!" Axel rubbed his head ruefully, but grinned. Sora's look of confusion was worth it!<em>).  
>"Nothing," the slate-haired man said smoothly. "He just said 'no Mex' for you tonight. We were discussing how we might all go out for dinner before you walked in, and if you have a headache, the spicy food might make it worse."<br>"Are you s––"  
>"Yes. Eat your breakfast, Sora. We've got your favourite cereal." Demyx grinned as Sora sat down next to Roxas and began pouring milk onto his cornflakes, and did a little gesture with his head, bouncing his mullet-hawk a little.<p>

"_Great cover up_," he whispered to the handsome junior. Zexion shrugged.

"It was just good timing." _Speaking of which, how much longer til they all leave? _He glanced at the Mickey Mouse clock hanging on the wall, and gave it a skeptical look. It read as eleven-o-six.

_Surely it hasn't been that long? _A sudden snap returned him to reality.

Naminé snapped her pale fingers as she realized why Roxas was upset about the money being stretched thin.

"You're going to the arcades today!" Roxas nodded.

"I know." Kairi giggled into her apple pie, the leftover dessert from the previous night. Naminé tapped her chin thoughtfully before speaking again.

"If you need money, I could give you some of mine, or you could use yours, and I'd make up for it by selling some paintings at the faire..." Roxas looked unsure, and fiddled with the corner of his napkin as he considered her words. Axel shook his head comically.

"Oh, come off it, Roxas! If you're going to the arcades, then just spend your money! We'll find a way to pay those bills, and besides, we _all _know how brilliant Naminé's paintings are! They'll be sure to be sold. So go ahead and make your brother happy." Roxas's mouth quirked into a line. Axel had a point, but he'd feel guilt if he took out money just for their day of two...

Zexion rolled his eyes at the blond's indecision, and decided to make up his mind for him. He pointed his ladle to the elder of the brothers.

"Roxas, since I know for a fact Axel's job begins at twelve-thirty, here's what you'll do: Axel will drive you to the game center and will make _sure _you buy a bucket of coins to spend. I'll talk to Cid and he'll let me work longer if he needs my help at the carshop. So no guilt, understood?"

Sora punched the air in happiness (his episode had ended quite a few minutes ago) and hugged his older brother gratefully as Roxas agreed to the plan (Axel had protested for a moment, but agreed as well once Zexion reminded him who made his breakfast).

Xion and Vanitas returned from outside at the same time Larxene and Marluxia walked down from the third floor. Without thinking, Zexion's aquamarine eyes flitted to the clock. Eleven-twelve. He could wait.

Larxene's slicked back bright blonde hair looked perfect as usual, and her two signature strands of hair styled into their distinctive antennae-like positions. She had a soft blush gracing her doll-like face, and wore a black, form-fitting jacket with a large hood attached, along with blue jeans and a white tanktop with a single rose embroidered onto the hem. Marluxia wore his hair naturally, ruffled and pink, with wisps curling at the ends, and had worn an old white shirt with a pink and green scythe printed on it. He wore tan gardening pants as well, and he too had a healthy pink glow on his face. Vanitas smirked.

"Well, even if this house-apartment-thing of ours has thin walls, it's amazing how well you two muffle yourselves." Xion elbowed her boyfriend lightly, and muttered something about speaking of such things was not polite.

By now, brunch had finished, and Roxas and Sora were cleaning up the plates. Zexion told them to leave the fruit and bread baskets, as well as some other dishes, in case anyone was hungry.

"Roxas? What does cousin mean?" The blond hurriedly shook his head.

"It's nothing, Sora. Get ready to go, we leave in ten minutes."

Demyx laughed at Vanitas's comment, and pointed out how both of them were blushing.

"It was hot..." Larxene said as she helped herself to a pear; Marluxia chose a breadstick instead. Axel smiled at her words and for once, did not say anything teasing.

"C'mon, Roxas, Sora. We should go soon." At his words, Naminé glanced at the clock as well.

"Shoot. Larxene, will you still drive us, please?" Xion and Kairi walked to the blonde woman (who had finished her fruit and began eating strips of bacon by hand as the brothers had already cleaned up the plates) and gave them their sweet, winning smiles. Larxene eyed them both and nodded as she chewed.

"Marluxia comes, though, sweetheart," she added as she swallowed. "If your boy-toy's comin', Xion, then he'll have to squeeze in with you." Marluxia poured some orange juice into a cup and drank it, when Demyx asked him a question.

"Why doesn't Vanitas drive you to the shopping mall?" The dark-haired youth raised an eyebrow as Marluxia gave an amused gesture of _ask-him-not-me_.

"Because Vanitas doesn't want the people over there to steal his car, that's why. Vanitas doesn't trust the people downtown."

"Vanitas, why are you speaking in third person?" Xion looked confused, but Vanitas silenced her with a kiss. Demyx pretended to gag, laughed, and went upstairs.

"Because. You ready to go?"

"Yes. Larxene says after she finishes brushing her teeth we'll leave."

* * *

><p>Zexion sighed as gradually, everyone left the house.<p>

_Finally. And not a moment too soon. _He still had sixty pages of homework left, and wanted to enjoy his relaxing weekend to the fullest without worrying about deadlines.

He sat at his second-hand mahogany desk in his room on the second-floor and stared at his papers. Most of them were essays to be written, but there were some fill-in-the-blanks and vocabulary homework.

_Relatively easy. If I have complete silence and everyone stays out until at least seven, I can probably finish... _

He got through two pages when suddenly, loud rock music began playing from somewhere downstairs.

"What––?" Mentally, he ticked off who it could have been.

Axel was at work, as was Saix; Roxas and Sora were at the game center; Larxene, Marluxia, Naminé, Xion, Kairi, and Vanitas were at the mall... _Damnit_. Of course. Zexion groaned.

Demyx was playing his music on the stereo in the den.

_What happened to my silence? My pure, wonderful, golden quietness? _

"DEMYX! _That's quite loud, would you mind turning that down?_" There was no reply, but that was to be expected. Zexion sighed and continued trying to complete his homework, until the singer began screaming into the mic. Zexion covered his ears: he was _not _a fan of screamo.

"_Demyx! Would you PLEASE turn that infernal music down?_"

The music got even _louder_ in response.

Zexion's head met the desk with a dull _thud_. It was going to be a long Saturday...

Demyx had been a-jammin' to his new CD from his favourite band, Wave Gigs, when suddenly there was a figure standing there in the doorway, someone who hadn't been there moments before.

It was Zexion, and he did not look happy at all. His arms were crossed, and he was leaning against the whitewashed wooden doorframe with a look of annoyance on his face: his aquamarine eyes lacked warmth, and his lips were set in a firm, thin line. Demyx frowned and twisted his lithe body from its position on his back on the sofa to one of him propped up on his elbows and looking at his guest.

"I'm honoured that you've graced me with your presence, Zexion," he said with a teasing note in his voice. "How can I help you?"

Zexion raised an eyebrow and moved his lips, but Demyx heard nothing. Snatching up a remote from the coffee table, he immediately turned the stereo from ninety to ten, propped himself back up on his elbows on the sofa's arm, and repeated his question. Zexion gave him an annoyed look.

"I said, would you mind turning your _infernal _music down? Use earphones or something please. I'm trying to do homework." Demyx's mouth fell open.

"Are you _crazy? _It's the first day of break! And what do you mean, infernal? Respect the classics, man!" Zexion laughed, a harsh, short, mirthless laughter.

"Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin created classics. Michelangelo created classics. _Da Vinci _created classics. But what you're listening to is merely annoying and distracting, and I can't concentrate on my work."

"Whaaat? Aww, cmon! They're not as bad as you say!"

"How many other people do you know who like Wave Gigs as much as you do?"

"Several!" Zexion's mouth twitched into a skeptical smile.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. And I won't name them, because then you might go after them, too!" Demyx knew he sounded a little bit whiny, but in all honesty, he enjoyed their bickering. It came so rarely. Zexion rolled his eyes.

"No, I wouldn't. But keep it down, please? It's quite annoying." Demyx grinned.

"Your opinion. You could do with learning how to loosen up, Zex. I could help with that," he said with a wink. Zexion shook his head and left.

At least the music was softer now. Maybe now his homework would get done.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Translations: Older sister; [Japanese form of Grace]; It's delicious!; Thank you, please, enjoy. **

**Whoa! This was wayyy longer than I originally had planned O.o I have _no _idea why. It was supposed to be much shorter... So! What did you think? Good, bad, any errors? Funny? Personally, I thought the humour was muted (eh...), but I'd love to hear your opinion! See you tomorrow!  
><strong>


	2. Matchmaker

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Two**

**Title: **Matchmaker

**Genre: **Humor, Romance

**Rating: **K+++

**Summary: **_Stupid Cupid, stop pickin' on me!_

**A/N: **...Shorter than Chapter One, but maybe that's a good thing :) Swearing actually does increase your tolerance of pain. But I'm not suggesting you _do_.

* * *

><p>Nine of the twelve tenants of the House had gathered at the Party Center Axel currently worked at and lounged about in their private rec room: Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, Sora, Zexion, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and, of course, Axel. Demyx was dozing in a hammock with a music magazine on his face; the girls were playing video games in the corner; Marluxia and Roxas were deep in discussion about some book series; Sora and Axel were eating popcorn; and Zexion was staring out of the second-story window as if in a trance.<p>

It was raining outside, and the sound of the rain was soothing. He watched the water slide down the window in little rivulets, and did not notice the room growing steadily quieter until a sudden roll of thunder boomed out, seeming louder than it actually was because of the tranquility in the room.

He glanced around and saw everyone lying around, as they were, but just quieter. Demyx remained sleeping, when another particularly loud clap of thunder sounded_._

_Crack-crac-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!_

Startled awake by the sudden noise, he clamped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

"MY EARS! _SH––_!" Another roll of thunder drowned out the sound of Demyx's pained swearing. He looked quite comical, and the other friends couldn't help but laugh, and laugh they did (including the slate-haired junior, but only slightly), until, with another clap of thunder, the lights blinked, flickered, and went out.

As did the TV and video games.

Larxene swore loudly.

_Very _loudly. Kairi took it upon herself to cover Naminé's delicate ears with her own pale hands to 'protect' her friend.

"_Just _when I was winning, too!" the blonde finished, and sighed, lightly touching her forehead with her hand. Marluxia gave a small grin. His girlfriend could be _so _overly dramatic at times. He edged closer to her (bumping into Axel and accidentally taking the redhead's hand in his) and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sure you'll live. After all, it was just a game," he said softly into her ear. The sharp-tongued woman relaxed in his arms, and began looping a pale finger through a strand of his pink hair.

"I guess..."

Roxas rolled his eyes and poked Axel (he knew that it was the Rec Supervisor: no one else had a natural body heat that high and be healthy) several times.

"Is there an emergency lighting back-up system or something? It's dark in here." Demyx laughed.

"Of course it is! It's a thunderstorm-caused-power-outage! Not to mention it's about, what, seven?"

Sora glanced at his glow-in-the-dark watch.

"Yeah, it's about seven. But it _is _awfully dark, Axel. Is there––?" Axel shook his head, his spikes bouncing lightly (not that anyone could clearly _see _them), and answered.

"No, at least, not for our room. It's only in the office, but that's for like _extreme _emergencies." Zexion glanced out of the window again.

"It looks as though it won't let up for quite some time," he pointed out. Naminé thought he sounded kind of glum. "It'll be very unsafe to drive home in this weather..."

"We'll need some way to spend the time, then," concluded Demyx, but leaving the thought out for anyone to contribute to.

Kairi grinned as she thought of an idea.

"I've got my music player with me! We could listen to the Gul––" Simultaneously, every single male either groaned or winced.

"_NO_." Kairi shrugged, and popped her earphones in and began rockin' to her music, mouthing the words as the recorded voices of teenage sensations Yuna, Rikku, and Paine sang into her ears.

Sora thought for a moment before a idea came to him.

"Hey! How 'bout we play Truth or Dare?" Axel nodded and voiced his opinion.

"That could work. We don't need to see to play, and we can stop anytime the lights return!"

"They didn't really _leave _in the first place, Axel," Zexion pointed out sullenly. Roxas rolled his cerulean eyes.

"Whatever. Let's play!"

For an hour and thirty-five minutes, eight-and-a-half friends sat in a circle and played the infamous game, with the half being Zexion, who only participated when he saw fit. The proceedings grew increasingly amusing (and ridiculous) as Axel dared Larxene to speak like Donald Duck for a full turn (she threatened to cut his tongue out if she heard him laugh, but spoke in a quacking voice until it was her turn again), Marluxia asked Sora if he had ever shoplifted anything (he embarrassedly admitted to pocketing a bar of chocolate once), and Larxene dared (in her normal voice) Demyx to pretend he was Zexion and tell his life-story. Zexion smirked at the embellishments the mullethawked young man tacked on, including mentioning building a hot air balloon out of miles and miles of thread, cooking a French soufflé the size of a car, and accidentally blowing up the middle-school's science lab while trying to find a cure for mouth cancer using bubble-gum, toothpaste, and glue (he had, in fact, accidentally blown up the school's science lab, but the reason was because a certain redheaded classmate had struck a match and was prancing around the room with it, when he accidentally knocked Zexion (who had, at the time, been holding a formaldehyde-soaked frog with gloved hands) into the fume-vent, lighting the frog on fire with the match which had flown out of his hand upon impact, and caused the lab to explode (singing Zexion's hair on fire as well). So technically, _Axel _was responsible for the accident, _he _was mostly blamed for the incident because, as Axel so tactfully put it: "_You _were holding the frog, not me").

Everyone laughed at the story as Demyx finished up; he then pointed to Sora and asked, "Truth or Dare." The brunet picked Dare, with a smile evident in his voice. Demyx sighed.

"Good. I dare you to pick another game for us to play: I'm sick of this one."

_Finally_, thought Zexion, as he allowed Naminé to snuggle up close to him. There was a slight pause.

"How about Matchmaker?" suggested Kairi, as she finished listening to _Teenyboppin' Trio_ and put away her music player.

Larxene made a face.

"How do you play _that?_ Dress up like Cupid and shoot people?" Marluxia chuckled at her question, then answered it for her before Kairi did.

"_Matchmaker _is a game where we all sit in a circle, just like now, and someone gets to be Cupid. He or she sits in the middle, then points to someone else, and says 'Matchmaker or Victim?'. If the person picks Matchmaker, then Cupid pairs them with someone and the couple have to either kiss or do something romantic until it's their turn again. Cupid decides. If they pick Victim––"

"Then Cupid asks that person a romantic and embarrassing question!" answered Kairi with a devious glint in her eye. It was clear (or _would have been_, if the rest of them could see her) that she had some good questions up her sleeve, and would not hesitate to ask them for laughs. Larxene smiled and arched her back to meet her lips with Marluxia's.

"Oh, I see," she drawled. "But does Cupid stay Cupid, or what?"

"Cupid chooses his or her successor after one full circle is played." Naminé smiled.

"Cool! Then let's play!"

"_I'll be Cupid!_" called out Kairi immediately, and seated herself in the middle-ish area of the circle. Demyx, Naminé, and Axel laughed at her enthusiasm. She stuck out her tongue at them, and decided, as revenge, to pick Axel first.

"Axel! Matchmaker or Victim?" she asked. Axel crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back on a bean-bag chair.

"Victim," he drawled easily. Kairi grinned.

"Would you kiss Marluxia for ten dollars?" A red eyebrow quirked upwards.

"_Only _ten dollars? He'd probably hit me for kissing him; I need more compensation than that!"

"Damn right I'd hit you," muttered the pink-haired man into Larxene's slicked back blonde hair. She smelled of roses from being around him so long. She giggled and squeezed his hand, and listened with amusement as Kairi enunciated a long "_Buuuuuuuuuut?_". Axel grinned.

"_But_, yes, I would. But only for the money though. And maybe to tick off Larxene, if I was having a bad day." The blonde twitched in Marluxia's arms, prompting forth a suppressed chuckle.

Kairi seemed satisfied with his answer and moved to the next person.

"_Sora!_ Matchmaker or Victim?" Quite unwisely, '_Matchmaker_' slipped out of Roxas's younger brother's mouth without him even considering it. His eyes went wide as he clamped his mouth shut.

"_No, wait! I meant_––"

"Too late! I pair you with..." She purposely dragged out the suspense to generate a bigger shock value from her friends; "_Naminé!_ Go... kiss her cheek!"

Naminé flushed scarlet and shifted a bit closer to Zexion, but he moved away to tease her. She let out a soft, barely audible sound of protest, and blushed as Sora made his way through the dark to her.

He gently raised his hands and touched hers, before ghosting his hands up her arms, then shoulders, then neck, before he finally found her face. He very, _very _carefully placed his hands on either side of her head, and pressed his closed mouth to her cheekbone. There was quite an awkward silence, until Demyx broke it by asking, "Well? Did he do it?", causing Sora to blush as well.

"Er...yeah. I kissed her cheek..." Kairi smiled.

"Okay, so now you sit next to her until it's your turn again."

Zexion found himself sitting next to the cheerful brunet now, instead of his unofficial friend/girlfriend.

_This is a waste of time..._

"Naminé! Your turn!"

"Victim!" she laughed. There was another pause, punctuated this time by Roxas snoring gently on Demyx's shoulder, and Larxene yawning loudly.

"Has... Aha! Has Zexion ever kissed you on the lips?" Zexion sat, stunned at the question, at the sheer _gall _Kairi had to ask _such _a _question_, as Axel, Demyx, and Marluxia laughed. Naminé curled up and whispered her answer.

"...no..." Marluxia stared at her voice's origin in surprise.

"_Really? _Wow. But you two seem very close..." Zexion cleared his throat before anyone else could comment.

"Yes. We haven't. Larxene, it is your turn." The blonde woman pushed herself off of her boyfriend and stretched.

"Yeah, okay. Victim, unless you're going to pair me with Marls." Kairi smiled.

"Nope! Your question is, if you could switch bodies with Mar Mar over there, would you?"

"Hah! No way," came the swift answer. Demyx whistled.

"Wow. Fast."

Also fast was the rest of the game as Kairi finished the circle (skipping the sleeping Roxas) and picked Sora as Cupid, who in turn finished the circle, and picked the now-awake Roxas as Cupid, who finished _his _circle and picked Axel as Cupid.

Zexion, who had previously stayed out of the game, was now forced into it by decree of the new Cupid _("You need to join us, Zex! You've been no fun at _all!" (to which Zexion had replied that he had no qualms with being 'boring' to the spunky redhead, but Axel wouldn't have it: he played, or there would be _dire _consequences, like last year's Christmas)), and gave Roxas a long, irate glare as Axel twisted the rules during Zexion's turn.

"Zex, Matchmaker or Victim?" he asked casually. Zexion picked Victim, because he _knew_, deep down in his gut, that Axel would not pair him with Naminé. Axel grinned wickedly. The time was approaching nine o'clock, and the storm was still raging outside; perfect for Axel's devious plan.

"Okay, then, Zexinator–– "

"_What _did you just call me?"

"Your new nickname. Love it. Anyway, would you rather pick Matchmaker instead, right now, and do as I say, or suffer the consequences of being a chicken and picking Victim? Because I'll warn you now, what happened last Christmas will be a foreshadowing of what might happen as a result of what you pick..." Zexion was quiet as he tried to figure out what Axel just said. The nonsense was confusing. Naminé ticked her head, bumping Sora's shoulder.

"Sorry. Er... Did that even make grammatical sense...?"

"Doesn't matter, Nami; what matters is if your boyfriend answers the question. Well? Are you gonna pick Matchmaker?" Axel asked, his smug tone seeping into his voice. What happened last Christmas was traumatizing enough without it being repeated, funny though it was at the time. The junior sighed.

"I suppose I have no choice. Matchmaker, then." Axel laughed.

"_Excellent~!_ Okay, so. Zexion, I pair you with..." There was a tense silence. Even Marluxia and Larxene stopped kissing in the corner of the room and waited. Who did Axel want to pair Zexion with so badly, he'd manipulate him into picking Matchmaker?

"With..." Kairi snapped from the tension.

"_Oh, _for Cupid's _sake_, Axel! Pick someone or I'll pick for you!"

"With _Demyx_." There was a shocked atmosphere as Zexion, Naminé, Demyx, Sora, Marluxia, and Larxene registered Axel's words. Even Roxas stirred slightly in his sleep.

"..._What?_" the two young men cried out in unison. Axel smirked and sat back.

"You heard me. Now, Zexion, you cuddle with Demyx, and Demyx, you put your arm around Zexion's shoulders. There. Now, Demyx, you give a small kiss to Zexion's face. Anywhere's fine. And stay like that for... until the lights come back on." (Actually, he couldn't see what was going on at all, but could tell from the sounds of movement what was happening.)

Zexion gave Axel the most immature, nastiest, frustrated and spiteful glare he could muster, and jumped when Demyx's hand trailed up his arm.

"_It's just a game_," Demyx whispered into the slate-haired youth's ear. "_Surely it couldn't hurt?_"

"_Precisely. It's just a game_," Zexion hissed back. "_And that's exactly why I refuse to do it._"

Demyx thought for a moment. He really was... well, _cute_, and chances like these came rarely.

"_It's dark. No one will see us_," he offered. Zexion did not answer.

"_I'll use earphones for an entire week...?_"

"Really?"

"Yes." Demyx grinned as Zexion shuffled closer to the taller blond and snuggled against him, even going so far as to slightly nuzzle his nose against Demyx's chest, surprising them both (but if he wouldn't have to listen to Wave Gigs for an _entire week_, by golly, he'd give it his best to earn that right!). The taller blond then wrapped a lanky arm around Zexion's slender shoulders and hugged him close, before lightly brushing his chapped lips against Zexion's cheekbone, exactly where Sora had kissed Naminé earlier.

_Right _at that moment, at nine-fifteen, the lights came back on. Both males froze as everyone blinked from the sudden light and stared at the couple.

It was Kairi who came to her senses first.

"Oh, you guys look so _cute _together!" she squealed. "_Axel_, you're a _genius_!" The redhead smirked and ran a hand through his hair.

"I try."

At this, both Zexion and Demyx moved away from each other. Naminé, who sat clear across the room next to the sleeping Roxas, giggled behind her hand. Marluxia looked impressed.

"Wow. You two really did it." The shorter male blushed indignantly.

"You say it as though you trusted us _not _to."

"Well, yeah." Demyx rolled his eyes and smiled at the intellectual, but the smile fell slightly as he realized that where Zexion once was was now an empty space.

"?" He opened his mouth to say his name, when he saw Zexion striding towards Naminé. She looked up at him curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to reaffirm my heterosexuality," he replied.

Then, he knelt by her, took her hand, and kissed it, before drawing her in and giving her a firm one on the lips. Suddenly, several things happened at once.

Axel's mouth opened in shock.

Sora's eyes went wide.

Larxene gave the couple a knowing smirk.

Marluxia stood there awkwardly.

Roxas began waking up.

And Demyx, blushing slightly, and determined to not be outdone, walked over to Kairi, gave her a wink, and kissed her full on the mouth as well.

Just like that, Zexion's need to prove his orientation turned into a kissing contest, much to the amusement and delight of the girls.

Roxas walked up to Sora and tapped his shoulder sleepily.

"Wuzgoinon?" Sora merely grinned.

"You just woke up at the wrong time."

Axel left the room to check up on the office and his coworkers, and Larxene heaved a resigned sigh, muttering about how she'd probably have to be the one to drive the shared van back to the House.

Meanwhile, the two men finally let go of their respective partners as they ran out of breath at the same time. Zexion left the room with Naminé in tow, leaving Demyx to watch his retreating back with a grin and feeling of regret. He shrugged, and began gathering his things for the trip home, figuring that there would inevitably be a next time; maybe he'd be luckier.

_Stupid Cupid, stop pickin' on me._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Cupid _could _have picked people at random, but going in a circle was easier for the purposes of this story :)  
>The two lines I used from the song Stupid Cupid do not belong to me.<br>Props! to my amazing boyfriend, who came up with the sound for thunder. I copied and pasted, so those are his words directly *heart***

**Anyways, how was it? A bit of Zemyx, yes, but most of it _wasn't_, aye? So... it's okay? ^^; **

**Review please. I love it when you do. And a sentence wouldn't cost you more than a minute. Thank you!  
><strong>


	3. Skates on Ice

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Three**

**Title: **Skates on Ice

**Genre: **Humor, Romance, Friendship

**Rating: **K, Epilogue is T

**Summary: **_I'm gonna stick like glue, stick because I'm stuck on you. And it's not just me. My tongue's stuck to the ice as well. _

**A/N: **Song _Stuck On You _by Elvis Presley, and (the tweaked) lyrics are from _Tip Of The Iceberg_ by Owl City. Bleh. It could've been better :/

**Warning: **Craziness. And a heckova lotta stupid linebreaks ^^;

* * *

><p><em>Welcome back, Winter Wonderland<em>

_Put on your warm, fuzzy sweater, 'cause you'll feel much better when_

_The snowflakes fall, gently to the ground_

_The temperature drops and your shivers_

_Freeze all the rivers around_

_But I'll keep you warm._

The twelve friends stood excitedly in line to enter the gates of the legendary Winter Wonderland Faire. It was a Yuletide-themed-carnival-turned-festival that only came to town when it snowed, and it barely ever snowed in their region of the world. The last Faire had come seven years ago, and everyone eagerly anticipated the arrival of the festivities once they saw the soft, frozen white ice-crystals falling from the sky above.

It had started with a holiday-themed circus-like procession: a Christmas-, Hanukkah-, and Kwanzaa-themed parade would march down the streets of the city, playing blithe music as they went, and would toss out fliers made out of recycled red-and-green paper with gold words painted on them, describing the event, and listing the opening and closing times of the holiday-carnival.

No one needed to ask where it would be held.

Close to the outskirts of the city, there was a large river which ran through and split the large city into two halves; one the size of a third. Though it rarely snowed, temperatures dropped quite low and the river never had any trouble freezing. The ice was very thick when it did solidify, and was the perfect place for the faire to be held.

Vanitas slid a little on his ice skates, unused to the feel of blades strapped to his boots, and struck an impatient pose; one that would have been _perfect _for tapping his feet restlessly, had they not been balancing on the sharp steel. Xion looped her arms gracefully around his waist and leaned into him, resting her head just above his folded arms.

"Xion.." he warned. _You'll make me fall._

The dark-haired girl looked up at his face and smiled.

"You won't fall. Don't worry," she reassured him sweetly. "Besides, if we _do _fall, Axel's standing right behind you." Axel glanced at the couple over his shoulder.

"Ha-ha. I'd probably melt the ice," he said with an easy grin following the sarcastic roll of his emerald green eyes. Kairi giggled.

"Yes, you probably would!"

Axel threw her a glare, but then eyed her outfit with skepticism.

"Aren't you _cold?_" The mahogany-haired girl was wearing a black, shimmery tanktop with a big **G **emblazoned on it in silver material, as well as snow-white shorts ending just mid-thigh. She wore twin, snowy feather-bracelets on each wrist; the feathers were so small, they looked more like wispy pom-pom wristbands. On her feet were light sneakers with steel soles and skates attached. Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"No. Naminé probably is, though," she said, gesturing to the blonde. She was wearing a white shirt under a white cashmere sweater with long, elegant sleeves, and denim shorts. On her golden head sat a white, woolen French beret.

The blonde heard her name and waved at the four: she was standing with Marluxia and talking about painting flowers. She had a sketch of frozen roses in an ice-vase and was asking him if he thought it would sell. He had conferred with her, and suggested some more little details, but had liked the picture and agreed that yes, of course it would sell; after all, wasn't she one of the greatest artists of the century?

Larxene had cast an amused eye over them and had loftily commented on flattery getting him nowhere unless he was flattering _her_, when Kairi had said her name. She was about to skate over when the line abruptly began moving forward. The scattered group immediately gathered together and waited for their turns to pass under the gates.

The curled iron of the entryway, decorated in green and red ribbons, passed overhead soon enough, and finally the twelve friends were inside the Fairegrounds. Sora and Roxas linked hands and laughed as they spun in a circle on the ice, Sora's weight preventing Roxas from falling and vise-versa. The angle at which they were spinning also prevented their falls, and the two brothers spun happily. Naminé watched and tugged on Demyx's hand.

"Let's do that, too!" she giggled.

Zexion felt a small, black snake wrap around his beating heart and tightly squeeze it with jealousy as he saw the tall, mullethawked blond link hands with _his _friend/girlfriend, but he brushed it off and erased his feelings; instantly, the snake was gone, dissolved into nothing more than dust, blood, and smoke, and it was as if he had not felt the envy in the first place. After all, they weren't officially dating, and if she liked Demyx, then he would respect her choice, even if he was bisexual.

"_Well, that's a lot better than you, Mr. I'm-Asexual," Axel had teased once. _Zexion quickly put the memory out of his mind and admired the rare environment.

The wide, wide river was definitely a perfect choice. Had all of the tents and stalls disappeared, the large bridge in the background would have made for a beautiful painting, with bare trees lining the banks gracefully, snow sitting on their brittle branches.

But even with the colourful, striped tents and food- and game-stalls, it looked nice. _Maybe nice enough for a postcard..._

"Alright guys!" called out Axel. "We should split up into small groups, so that way there's no fighting about what we'll see when and why. So... Sora, you're too cheerful. Go with Larxene," ordered Axel with a wink. Sora looked crestfallen, but lit up when he remembered how generous with her money Larxene could be on a good day. _Maybe I'll finally taste cotton-candy! _

"Roxas, you go with Zexion..." Zexion strode over to the shorter blond and draped a black-sleeved arm over his shoulders.

"I've got my cell phone," he said with a hint of forced cheerfulness. Demyx looked at him curiously.

"Why–– "

"Xion, with your boyfriend." Marluxia's mouth quirked upwards as he protested.

"Why does Vanity get to be with his girlfriend?" Xion laughed at her boyfriend's nickname, causing him to turn red.

"_It's Vanitas,_" he snarled lightly, before mocking Kairi's hairflip and walking away with Xion's hand in his. Naminé laughed.

"I guess I'll go with Demyx, since Zexion's already taken," she winked. Axel then paired Kairi and Saïx together, before leaving with Marluxia to go to the game-stalls.

Kairi, Saïx, Zexion, and Roxas stared at each other before awkwardly waving goodbye.

"So, where do you want to go?" asked the slate-haired young man. The two were passing through the souvenir stands, and the taller of the two was keeping his right hand close to his pocket of money. Roxas looked up at the unnaturally almost-cheerful college junior.

"Er, I guess the Rink's cool..." _What was up with him? _he wondered. _Did something..._ He froze.

_Could it be possible that Zexion was _jealous? _After all, Naminé and Demyx were––_

"Something wrong, Roxas?" Zexion stopped skating and looked back at the high-school senior. The blond shook his head, an almost-smile tugging at his pale lips.

"No. Nothing's wrong. Let's go to the Rink."

* * *

><p>Kairi and Saïx were skating through the crowds and were examining the ice-sculptures on display under the arch of the brown-brick bridge.<p>

"Wow! Sai, look at this!" The stylish redhead pointed at a particularly large statue. It was a large castle, but with sideways towers and a many roofs. But though the architecture was bizarre, the minute details chiseled into the frozen water were what truly caught the eye. Each individual brick was painstakingly tapped in, and the windows looked almost real.

"Like it?" came a sudden voice. Both Kairi and Saïx jumped (though the latter hid his surprise with a cough) and looked at the speaker. He was a handsome young man, with silver hair just passing his shoulders, and clear aquamarine eyes twinkling coldly, though with a friendly amusement's tell-tale feel to them. Kairi stared at him in awe.

_He's... almost kinda cute! _

"It's called _Castle Oblivion. _Some guy named Ventus made it. It's crazy detailed, isn't it?" Kairi nodded shyly.

"It's very good. Is it for the contest?" The silver-haired youth regarded her with a strange, knowing look. He wore a top hat, purple with gold stars, and it caught her attention.

"Yes... Are you entering?" She shook her head.

"No, I can't. I'm not artistically talented _at all_." She giggled. "But thank you, Mr...?"

"...Riku. There's no 'mister' in front of it either. Just Riku." He smiled at her. Kairi furrowed her eyebrows. _Riku... Riku, that name sounds so familiar! _She gasped.

"Hey! Are you Sora's––"

But the man had already left.

* * *

><p>It was Larxene, not Sora, who dragged their friend's sleeve with one hand as they ran from booth to booth excitedly, looking at all of the different games, merchandise, and food with equal interest.<p>

"Hey, look! A darts game! How much to play?" she asked, as she skated up to the wooden counter. A man with a long ponytail and an eyepatch smirked.

"A dollar for three." Larxene did not hesitate to take out her moneybag from one of her long, black, trench-coat-like jacket's pockets, and paid the man with a bill. He took it without looking and handed her three sharp knives. They were yellow, with turquoise tinging around the center.

"Well, here goes!"

Two minutes, two misses, and one perfect bull's eye later, Larxene left the booth with a satisfied smirk on her face and a large, yellow-eyed black plushie, with two antennae just like her hair strands.

"Where should we go next?" she asked the brunet. Sora answered immediately:

"Cotton candy!"

* * *

><p>Xion and Vanitas waltzed together in the Rink, with Xion teaching Vanitas how to keep his balance on ice, and Vanitas teaching Xion how to dance. <em>At least now, she can't step on my toes<em>, thought the dark-haired man with a smirk. Xion noticed.

"What's so funny?" She placed a small kiss to his chest: she couldn't tiptoe on skates to reach any higher, and didn't want to try (_His jacket zipper is cold! s_he thought). Vanitas shrugged.

"Nothing really. You're getting better, though," he commented truthfully. They continued dancing on the ice until two large bodies bumped into them.

"Oh! Sorry!" yelped one. Xion and Vanitas looked up.

They were balloon-clowns, jokers clad in ridiculously air-filled suits, mostly for their dangerous stunts. Vanitas's girlfriend hooked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

"No, that's okay!" she said cheerfully. "We should have been watching where we were going. _Ne_, Vanitas?" He nodded sulkily.

"Yeah, okay. Sorry." As soon as the clowns turned away (after apologizing one last time), Vanitas stuck his tongue out at them quite childishly, making his girlfriend laugh.

"Vani, you look so silly!"

"So do you. Is sitting on ice in jeans really that comfortable?" queried a new voice. Both looked up.

Roxas had his arms crossed, and was grinning down at the two. Vanitas glared at him, but his gaze softened as Roxas and Zexion (who walked up) each extended a hand to the fallen skaters.

"What _were _you doing down there, anyway?" asked Zexion, really quite curious, but a slight disdainful tone marred the question. Xion blushed.

"We fell."

"No, we didn't. Some idiot clowns bumped into us and knocked us down." An eyebrow raised.

"I see. Are you having fun?" Xion smiled.

"Yeah! After eating some ice cream, Vanitas said he was going to take me to the ice-show!" Roxas smiled as well.

"That sounds nice. Have fun!" He turned to Zexion, a devious grin on his face.

"Race ya," he challenged. "Three laps. Loser buys the snow-cones." Zexion smirked.

"Oh, you're _on_."

* * *

><p>Axel and Marluxia were riding the carousel horses, painted brightly and festively, while eating popcorn out of a paper, striped box. Both rode side-saddle-style, as it was much easier to eat their popcorn that way. As Axel munched on the popped corn, he asked his pink-haired companion a question.<p>

"Do you like clowns?"

Marluxia glanced at him with a smirk on his face.

"Do you mean yourself? I may be bisexual, just like Demyx, but I'm already taken," he winked. Axel rolled his eyes and lightly caressed his two purple, inverted-teardrop tattoos, one under each eye.

"I am a _joker_. Not a clown. I meant _those_," he said, gesturing towards some large bodies. Both of them looked at the gathered crowd's direction, and waited for the carousel to turn again so they could continue watching the clowns.

One of them popped his suit open, and instead of being air-filled, it was filled with green, gold, blue, and red confetti, and burst them into the air, creating a colourful, dry rain. Marluxia shook his head.

"Not really..."

"Are you _scared _of them?" teased the redhead.

Marluxia threw the empty striped box at him.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the crowd, Kairi had lost Saïx, and was looking for him, when she bumped into Riku again. He smiled down at her.<p>

"Hi again, Kairi."

"H-hi! I was wondering... er, could you..." she looked up at him. "Hang on; how do you know my name?" Riku turned his back to her and walked away.

Kairi crossed her arms and glared angrily at his back. _How rude! _She was just about to look for Saïx again when the strange young man returned, with an ice cream in each hand. He handed one to her, rendering the fashionable high-school junior speechless.

_Oh._

"Sora told me," he said simply, as he began eating his blue sweet. Kairi blushed.

"O-oh. Thank you... for buying me this," she said, somewhat lamely. Riku laughed.

"You're welcome. Where's Bluey?"

"Blu––? Oh. Saïx. I was looking for him, but... he can take care of himself." She skated a bit closer to him. Riku smirked.

"I'm sure he can, indeed."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Saïx had found his way to the snow-cone stall. A redhaired woman and a tall brunet were selling the shaved ice in a large cup with a straw, and seemed very busy indeed, when the woman caught sight of Saïx and whispered something to her partner. He grinned, and slipped out of the booth to skate quickly over to him, raising a hand in greeting.<p>

"Hey!"

"Hello."

"Aerith says she knows you. You're Saïx?" asked the tall man. He was wearing a black jacket also, but this one ended at his waist and had a fur collar. Saïx nodded.

"Yes... And who are you?"

"I'm Leon," the man said, and smiled. "'Rith's said that you need some cash? If you're interested, you could take my place for an hour or two...?"

"Really?"

"Really." Saïx thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"Well, then, yes please!"

* * *

><p>Demyx, holding Naminé's hand, gently tugged her along as he skated through the crowds of people, laughing along with her as they slid gradually faster on the ice.<p>

Having so much fun, they didn't notice four other people skating towards them, and promptly collided with them.

"Ow!" Naminé winced as she landed on top of a certain slate-haired man, banging her fist against the ice. Upon recognizing him, she immediately drew back, hand covering her mouth.

"Oh, Zexion! Are you okay?" Zexion looked blankly at her for a moment, before slightly reddening and getting up, slipping a little on the ice. Brushing himself off, he shook his hair.

"I'm fine." The little blonde smiled.

"I'm glad. Sorry." Zexion was mid-shrug before laughter drew their attention away.

Demyx, who had collided with Roxas and Xion, lay sprawled on top of them both, and the three were in mirth. Vanitas stood off to the side, arms crossed, and watched them with distaste.

"Get off of my girlfriend, Dem-Dem," he said; but his words lacked the bite they usually held. He looked to be suppressing his laughter, and waltzed over to the ungainly heap and dragged Xion out, leaving Demyx nose-to-nose with Roxas.

"Heyy," he said with a wink. Roxas groaned playfully, and halfheartedly pushed him off.

"'Heyy' yourself. You're heavy!" Demyx reluctantly got up, and saw Zexion and Vanitas whispering fiercely.

"_Ha! See? I told you!_"

"_You sound incredibly immature, Vanity."_

"_You're no better! Like a child!"_

"_Takes one to know one!" _Naminé was doubled over with silent laughter, and tugged on Zexion to get him away from his pride-fight.

"Zexion, buy me a snow-cone?" she asked sweetly. Zexion sighed and nodded. The black snake sniffed the air.

"Of course. What flavour?"

"I–– Demyx, I can't see if you're there."

"But I don't know what I should get! I mean, there's lemon, lime, strawberry, pink lemonade, sea-salt, cola, grape, mango, cherry, tropical punch, Blue Hawai'i, Fruits Basket, berry, and orange!"

"Which do you _want?_"

"But everything sounds so _gooooood_," stressed Demyx, when his eye caught blue.

"Sai?"

"Demyx?"

"What are you doing there?"

"Working. Miss Aerith gave me a job." The woman smiled.

"Hello, Demyx." He waved.

"Hiii! Hey, Sai, can I get a discount?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Cherry on top?"

"Are you ordering?"

"It's a _phrase._" There was a momentary pause. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why no discount? Aren't I your bestest, bestest buddy?" Demyx fluttered his eyelashes. Saïx snorted.

"No. And no discount."

"Why not?"

"I'm being _paid _for this job."

"So if you were volunteering, you'd give me a discount?"

"No."

"But you said––"

"_Just... _PICK the flavour you want, Demyx!" His tone was exasperated but on his face was a smile. "People are waiting behind you!" And it was true: several customers were in line behind the mullethawked man and his friends, a few of them laughing behind their hands at the silly banter between the bluenett and dirty-blond (not excluding their friends themselves: Xion and Naminé found it very amusing). Demyx looked sheepish, then thought for a moment.

"Can I have some of everything?"

* * *

><p>Zexion watched as Roxas left with Naminé's hand in his. The snake tightened in his chest for a moment, before Zexion reduced it to naught but ash once more. Vanitas and Xion had left to 'run an errand' (<em>Run an errand, my foot.<em>), leaving Zexion watching over a very cheerful Demyx.

"So, where do you want to go?"

"I don't care. Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere's fine. Everywhere's fine. Hey, let's go to the carousel!" he decided suddenly. Zexion shrugged and skated with him to the merry-go-round, and began noticing Demyx skating closer and closer to him, humming an Elvis song, until they were in danger of bumping.

"Demyx? Why are you so close?"

"_I only stick like glue; stuck because I'm, stuck onto you.."_ began singing Demyx in reply, waggling his eyebrows as he did so, bringing a slight smile to Zexion's face.

"Stop that."

"_Nosirree, uh huh huh._" Admit it he did not want to, but Demyx's impression of Elvis was both accurate and funny. Zexion smiled and shook his head, and continued skating, trying to ignore the rest of the lyrics.

"_I'm in the kitchen, I'm in the hall; it won't do you no good at all, cause once I catch ya and the kissin' starts––" _

A pale hand clamped over Demyx's mouth.

"No," was all Zexion said. Demyx grinned once Zexion's hand left his mouth (_It smelled nice, of parchment and coffee, and maybe a dash of brine from his sea-soap_) and began singing another song.

"_You're as cold as ice! Someday you'll sacrifice our love––_"

Demyx let out a yelp as Zexion tackled him to the ground.

The carnival ride was fun, and the two enjoyed themselves as they rode, keeping them in good spirits until another clown bumped into them, sending Demyx crashing over to the bank.

Worry began trickling down into Zexion's blood.

"Demyx! Watch out!" He winced as the mullethawked man crashed into a lamppost. He quickly skated over and examined the damage.

"Are you alright?"

"Yah. Ahm fine. Ecthept bai tung ith thuck. Bai tung ith thuck. Theksiyoooon! Help me plethe! Theckthion? Haaaaaae! Theckth?"

But Zexion was laughing, genuinely laughing at how silly Demyx looked with his mouth open, tongue stuck to the pole.

"Haha... I'm sorry, this... hahaha! This shouldn't be funny, but... heheh... but it's..._ahem_," he cleared his throat, only the slightest traces of mirth left on his face. "I'll call Aerith. She'll get you loose."

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue: Rated T<strong>

"You licked a pole?" asked Roxas incredulously. Aerith had expertly rescued Demyx from his predicament, and had treated them all to cotton-candy (they all already had snow-cones) while Leon took care of business. Demyx looked at the suddenly-interesting ground, and folded his hands behind his back, taking care not to let the sticky stick touch his clothes. _Yeah, yeah, it was stupid. But it was an accident!_

"...Yeah..." he said weakly. A blush tinted his cheeks. Axel looked at him curiously.

"Whose? Your crush? Zexion's?" Demyx looked up with confusion in his eyes.

"Wha_––_? No, I think the government owns them. I dunno what Zex would do with one if he bought it..."

In his disorientation, he had not caught Axel's drift. And for that, Roxas was glad.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: How was it? Sucky? Eh, tomorrow should be better~ :) Thanks anyways!  
>Leave a review, please. It's rude not to ;)<br>**


	4. When We Meet

**Hey! Another day, another chapt. I'm worn out already, and it's only day four!**

* * *

><p><strong>The Anti-Zemyx Day Four<strong>

**Title: **When We Meet

**Genre: **Friendship

**Rating: **K

**Summary:** Dem-Dems and Sexy Zexy meet each other over a decade ago.

**A/N: **No, I wasn't in my right mind when I wrote this. Sorry it's so short. But! Enjoy anyways, darlin's!

**Shoutout: **WeDidItForTheDead! You always review, and it gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling! Here's a public thank you! :D

Demyx knew it was a dream as soon as he recognized the park he and his childhood friends were playing at, more than ten years ago. He had been playing in the sandbox by himself, with Axel and Saïx climbing on the swing sets, Larxene flirting with another blond boy, Marluxia reading a book on the benches (his legs were too short to touch the ground, and were swinging in midair), and Axel's brother Reno with his group of friends eating ice-cream, when a trio of bullies approached him.

"Hey. You. Dem-Dems." The voice was commanding and rude. Child Demyx had looked up innocently and smiled up at the three.

"Hello," he said politely. His godmother, with whom he lived, always taught him to be courteous, even if he didn't like them (that is, until she was busy making another dress for the proms and balls girls kept going to). The frontmost bully sneered at him.

"Don't 'hello' me like we're _friends_. Got any change?"

"No..." The beanie-wearing boy smirked, clearly disbelieving.

"Rai. Shake 'em up," he commanded, as the girl with lilac hair stood to his side. Demyx closed his eyes tightly for the inevitable pain, but opened them timidly when nothing hit him.

A boy with slate-coloured short hair was standing in front of him, arms spread out and an assertive stance defining his posture. He was short, maybe Demyx's size, but was clearly a little older.

"What are you doing, punk?" drawled the beanie-wearing boy, crossing his arms over his chest, hiding the slightly opened buttons on the top of his shirt and vest. The boy in front of Demyx glared at the bully and did not back down.

"I'm protecting him from you bullies. Stay away. He did nothing to you."

"And that's _exactly _why Rai was gonna shake 'im up. He _didn't _give us his money and he _didn't _take his hit. You want it instead?" His fist tightened. The strange boy stepped closer to the bully and stood on his tiptoes to get within macro-range of his face, almost close enough to feel the other's breath on his face.

"_Pick on summon your own size, _punk," he said calmly, though there was suppressed anger clear behind that facade. The bully tightened his already closed fist and glared at the smaller boy, before shrugging and motioning to his friends.

"You got lucky today, Dem-Dems!" he called out, before murmuring, "Let's go," to his cronies and leaving the park, leaving the blond still sitting in the sand, stunned, and the boy with his arms outspread.

After the slate-haired boy was sure they were gone, he lowered his white-sleeved arms and turned around and offering the boy a hand.

"Can you stand? Your legs look like they've fallen 'sleep." Demyx blushed slightly, just a hint of red, easily mistaken for a sunburn, and took the hand, tugging slightly to pull himself up.

He was taller than the polite boy, but only just. He looked into the aquamarine eyes shyly as he began stuttering out a thank-you, when the boy peered closer up to his face, then frowned slightly.

"Oh. I thought you were Ven... your hair looks the same, you know." The boy shrugged, his aura slightly colder than before. Demyx felt slightly guilty for (albeit accidentally) misleading the boy. Right then and there, he decided to cut his hair into something distinctive that no-one would ever mistake for someone else. Maybe a fashion-hybrid! Yeah! Like... spikes and a ponytail! (_Wait, that's no good, that's what Reno's got..._) How about...

But then Demyx remembered that the strange boy with the strange hair (_It's so beautiful. Is it soft, too?_) was still standing there, and all of his shyness and embarrassment returned.

"Um. Thank you... for making those meanies go away..." he said lamely, twisting the hem of his green shirt nervously between his sandy fingers. The boy glanced at him again, his expression unreadable.

"You're welcome. They shouldn't bully people, especially for munny." He shrugged again, lowered his head, and walked off, towards Marluxia and his stack of books on the bench. Demyx stared stupidly before his mouth opened again.

"W-wait! What's your name? I'm Demyx!"

The boy didn't even look around as he tossed him back his name.

"Zexion. Zexion Ienzo Evenson."

Demyx's eyelashes fluttered open as he sighed at the memory, groaning and turning over in his bed as morning's first light filtered through his curtains and stung his eyes.

_I've got to get some black curtains... _his mental voice mumbled in his brain, as he burrowed deeper into his blankets, smiling lightly at how pretty he had thought Zexion had been back then, and still now: a frozen lead rose, with plenty of blunt thorns.

He grinned and went back to sleep, hoping that another memory of the two would replay in his mind, when suddenly his door burst open, slamming into the wall, and a sudden, very cold sensation crashed over the blond as his covers were wrest from his grip and body and flung onto the floor.

"Wha? Wuzgoinon?" Demyx asked in his confusion, and focused his eyes on the quickly moving slate-haired man in front of him, and gasped.

"_Zexion! _You came to visit me! You never do that!" He smiled widely and reached his arms out to hug the man, when Zexion's withering stare caught him.

"It's four til six. Your train leaves at six-fifteen. Remember? That morning gig you were going to play at Ninth Heaven?"

Demyx's eyes and mouth opened.

_Oh, shoot! _

"Thanks, Zex!" he called out as he dashed downstairs to grab some breakfast before he changed. Zexion rolled his eyes and closed the door, and Demyx smiled ruefully.

So much for that hug...

* * *

><p><strong>AN: eheh... heh... heh. ^^; ANYWAY so how'd you like it? For those of you who caught the reference, yes that was based off of Tifa's bar's name, but it's Demy! so I tweaked it a bit. **

**Thoughts? Requests? Demands? Tell me please! :) Thanks.  
><strong>


	5. Don't We Look Cute?

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Five**

**Title: **Don't We Look Cute?

**Genre: **Parody**(?)**/Humour

**Rating: **K++

**Summary:** Roxas thinks about what Axel's said, and acts on his thoughts, much to the furious embarrassment of a certain artist... **No relevance to the other chapters. **

**Pairings: **Roxas/Kairi, [**anti**] Zemyx

**A/N: **I said "Anti-Zemyx", and Anti-Zemyx this is. **NO BASHING**. I'd **_never _**bash my favourite Nobodies!

**Shoutout: **WeDidItForTheDead! Hope Eternal! Ichiakil! Marimo161! Zenelly! NeonBiersack! All my other readers! Thanks guys! :D

* * *

><p>Roxas sat with Kairi, his classmate-now-girlfriend, at the hospital cafeteria. She was an intern there, training to become a nurse, and it was his lunch break from his office. They were eating salt ramen and chicken chow mein, respectively, and chatted pleasantly together in the slightly chilly room.<p>

"––and then Naminé said that she'd rather have all of her supplies stolen than attend a class with such an ignorant fool of a teacher who couldn't even _recognize _artists when he saw them, then took her things and _left_. Just like that! Would you believe it? _Just _like that!"

"I find that very hard to believe. I mean, _Naminé_? The shy mouse of a cousin of yours? She's always so quiet!"

"Yeah, I know! But she was _really _ticked off about how her professor was talking trash about Z. I. Evenson's work; he's her favourite artist! Anyway, so now she's dropped her Art Skills class and is going into Psychiatry."

"Wow," said Roxas with a smile, as he clumsily ate another bite of the ramen with his fork as he would with spaghetti: the cafeteria had no chopsticks, and his food was instant and microwaved. Kairi blushed slightly at he rested his head on her shoulder after he finished his food, and leaned her head on his.

"So...?"

"So what?" Kairi snuck her hand under the table and took Roxas's hand and held it gently. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"So... how's she doing now?" he asked. Kairi shrugged.

"She says her teacher now has long blonde hair, instead of huge sideburns. She said he looked kind of creepy, but it was a nice change. He's a little nicer too."

"Huh. That's cool, I guess," he shrugged, mimicking Kairi's actions. The redhaired girl smiled, and so did the blond. Kairi raised an eyebrow (Roxas did, too), and began giggling and twirling her hair, laughing as she watched Roxas do the same.

He looked ridiculous.

Sighing, she quit the charade and took out a book from her bag to read, and opened it, when she saw her boyfriend holding an imaginary book and opening it. She narrowed her eyes and fought to keep the grin off her face.

"Stop that." Roxas looked at her innocently, his wide cerulean eyes open in bruised shock.

"Stop what?"

"Stop acting like the sickeningly _sweet _couple you are." Both Roxas and Kairi turned to look at the source of the newcomer's familiar voice. The blond's face broke into a grin as he recognized who it was.

"Axel!" The approaching redhead, with locks styled into gravity-defying sharp spikes, smirked at his name and plopped himself down onto the wooden bench, placing his feet up on the bench as well, and propping his right elbow onto the table.

"Yo." With one swift movement, he reached over and ruffled Roxas's hair, much to the annoyance of the blond, who did not manage to swat the pale hand away.

"You _know _I hate that."

"Yep." He grinned. "_So. _What's up?" Kairi and Roxas looked at each other, before Roxas grinned and began eating a cookie he removed from a ziplock within his bag.

"You tell him."

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of telling Axel all about what had been going on lately, including Naminé's incredible walk-out, Kairi finished her end of the conversation and waited for his response.<p>

What he said shocked her.

"You know..." the redhaired man said slyly; "I've got a scoop of my own." Kairi and Roxas unconsciously leaned in. If Axel said he had a scoop, it was most times blow-you-to-the-moon incredible.

Most times.

Axel smirked.

"I was at Nocturne's house and hanging out with him when he accidentally let _slip_," he said with a devious grin, "that he had a crush on you-know-who."

"Voldemort?"

"_NO! _Our little Dem-Dems is in _love_, with the one and only, award-winning, _Naminé-charming_ Zexion Ienzo Evenson."

His lips curled cruelly, a sight to send his many admirers into twittering messes of flustered blushes, as he looked at Roxas's and Kairi's twin looks of shock.

"Yep. It's true."

"_No way_," Kairi breathed. She had known Demyx was bi, but to fall for _Zexion... _that was a little extreme.

And when Demyx fell, he fell _hard_.

Roxas, on the other hand, looked impressed, if somewhat doubtful.

"_Zexion? _But he's a celebrity, yeah?" Axel grinned and leaned in closer.

"_He just moved in next door._"

* * *

><p>Zexion Ienzo Evenson, who was perfectly fine with being called just "Zexion" or "Mr. Evenson", thank you <em>very <em>much, of the city Radiant Gardens (about sixty miles away), stood with his two black suitcases outside the slightly derelict, brownstone apartment doubtfully, and examined the crinkled slip of paper in his hand once again.

_Turn right on Darkside Avenue, and walk to the first brownstone building you see, right by the lamppost. Your new address is 696 A. The key's in the envelope. _

He sighed, blowing his messy, slate-coloured bangs out of his face as he looked up at the building once again, and shrugged.

"I suppose I have no choice in this matter..." He quickly folded the worn paper into fouths and stuffed it into his jeans pocket, before taking up the handles of his suitcases and walking in.

The interior of the building was not nearly as dingy as the outside suggested. There was a nice lobby with four chairs, a coffee table, and two lamps, and to the left was an elevator. The man walked over, pushed the button, and winced as the lift made a loud _ding! _noise as it opened. He pressed the second floor button, and waited as the contraption lifted him up.

As it turned out, he had the apartment closest to the elevator (_Great_, he thought glumly, not at all looking forward to the inevitable noises of people walking to and from the lift (six feet away though it was)), and had a neighbor's door right in front of it.

_696 B_

He glanced at it for a moment before turning to his own door and inserting the key.

He twisted the metal, but nothing happened. No click, no sound, just a smooth movement. Zexion frowned.

_That can't be right... _

He attempted to open the door again, and let out a frustrated groan as the door refused to budge open.

"D'you need help?" asked a sudden voice. The slate-haired man turned around and glanced up at the speaker.

He was a dirty-blond, mullethawked man, with startlingly innocent green eyes and a kind smile, though with some nervousness and stress hidden behind.

_No, I'm standing here because it's fun_, he would have liked to say to the strange, tall... stranger. _Thanks for your concern, but leaning frustratedly against doors that won't open is a national past time of my country to pass the time._

"Er, yes," was what came out of his mouth. "The key moves, but there's no click and the door won't open." The other nodded and tentatively shuffled the painter to the side; he then scrunched up his sleeves, walked back a bit, and charged at the door, kicking it open and holding the door open for the impassive painter.

"There!" he said cheerfully. "No-one's lived there in _ages_, and these doors stick when not used. You're the new guy, right?"

Once again, Zexion bit back a sarcastic remark and nodded. The other smiled.

"Cool! We'll be neighbors then. My name's Demyx, what's yours?" He held out his hand. Zexion shook it slowly, then released after two seconds and looked away.

"...Zexion. Just Zexion." Demyx grinned.

"Well, _Just Zexion_, do you need any help with your bags? They look heavy."

Zexion grimaced at the memory of the weight, and nodded, taking one. Demyx took the other, and, after a comical act of pretending it was too heavy to _move_, he picked it up with ease and placed it into the room, while giving him the orientation.

"...and _that's _why you don't ever do that, okay? Oh, and one more thing: we don't get bugs up here, but there are a few snakes downstairs. They're not poisonous, but they _hurt_," he winced. Zexion's eyebrow rose.

"You've been bitten?" As an answer, Demyx pulled up his pant leg and showed Zexion the two scars just above his beach anklet, twin punctures from a snake's fangs. Zexion nodded and pulled up the sleeve of his black turtleneck, showing Demyx the twin marks on his pale wrist. Demyx stared in surprise.

"_Wow..._" he breathed, and lightly ghosted his long fingers over the skin. Zexion stiffened, not used to another person's touch, and held his breath.

The man seemed to sense his discomfort and stopped, grinning sheepishly and explaining more about the house.

An hour passed before the man said he had to leave, and as he waved goodbye, Zexion felt a tiny pulse in his chest, from his silent heart, and wondered if he had made a good friend.

Demyx poked his head back in the doorway, and winked.

"You should totally stop by for dinner tonight. Seven, okay? Coz, like, your fridge is _empty_."

With a two-fingered salute, he was gone.

* * *

><p>"...so now Zexion's friends with Dem-Dems, and Dem-Dems is head over <em>heels<em>," finished Axel. Kairi sighed dreamily (she, too, was a fan of his paintings, though not as much as her cousin) and glanced at Roxas, who glanced at his watch.

They had about ten minutes left. They had time.

Axel seemed to notice, and continued the story.

"So anyway, Zex doesn't know about the crush, and Dems doesn't know about him being a celebrity."

"How do you know?" Kairi inquired curiously. Axel shrugged.

"I asked him, 'Hey, you know Zexion's famous, right?', and he sat there and laughed at how funny I could be."

"How long since they've known each other now?"

"Oh, maybe three months now?" Kairi played with the keychain on her cellphone.

"Well, that's cool. He should know, though," she added thoughtfully. Then she smiled widely and looked to her boyfriend.

"_You _should do it!"

"Do what?" he asked in surprise. Axel laughed.

"Great idea, Kai. Roxas, listen: you suggest to Zexion that they date, and I'll give you twenty bucks. _Just _to see Demyx get some."

"Some what?"

"Just suggest that Zexion and Demyx date." With a wink, he was gone.

* * *

><p>Roxas thought about the offer and decided that yes, he would do it, and not just for the money: Demyx was his friend, but while he would help him, he'd also do it in a way that would be <em>fun<em>. 

It was around three o'clock when he invited Zexion over to his house for some pie. It was a strange reason, but Zexion said that if Demyx would come, he would come.

Roxas kept his mind off what else that could have meant.

Zexion arrived about seven minuets after the phone call, and sat down awkwardly at the table, hands in his lap and mouth quirked into a line.

Two minutes after that, Demyx arrived, and made himself at home, just as Roxas's pie (cherry and graham crust) finished baking.

"Hey, Roxas! What's with the sudden invite? Someone's birthday?" Roxas kept a straight face.

"I hope not; I didn't give anyone anything!" Zexion smiled, a little, and thanked Roxas for his slice of pie.

They all sat down and began eating, when Roxas grinned devilishly, remembering what Axel said.

"Hey Zexion?" he asked, forgetting that this was a famous person; right now, he was just another friend.

"Yes?"

"You should totally date Demyx."

Zexion coughed on his bite of pie and swallowed some water to clear his throat.

"I _beg _your _pardon?_" Roxas grinned; Demyx blushed.

"Just what I said. Y'know? Personality-wise, you'd be perfect for each other! And you live next door. _And _I'll bet your astro-guides say you're compatible!"

"_Firstly..." _he said with scornful disdain; "your syntax is quite incorrect. _Secondly_, I am not gay. _Thirdly_, 'personality-wise'? Please tell me you're joking. I strongly dislike laziness, something Demyx specializes in..."

Demyx grinned sheepishly, lethargically raising a hand in agreement.

"For another, he's quite loud, compared to me, and finally, we have _completely _different tastes."

But Roxas grinned.

"Exactly! Opposites attract! You'd compliment each other! Right, Dem-Dems?" Demyx grinned and walked up behind the sitting Zexion.

He loosely draped his arms over his shoulders, and gently rested his chin on the slate hair.

"Don't we look so cute together?" he teased. Zexion blushed, a slight pink tainting his cheeks.

"I have work to do..." he muttered, before leaving the house (after thanking Roxas halfheartedly for the half-slice of pie he ate) and closing the door.

Demyx sighed melodramatically and draped his lithe body onto Roxas's couch.

"He said he wasn't gay!" His face was the pure picture of horror and tragedy. But Roxas smiled.

"He never said he wasn't _bi_."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yes, I rushed. I'm sorry. But I promised my boyfriend I'd sleep before midnight, and I've got fifteen minutes left xD **

**Did you like? Someone besides Obsidian Rush and WeDidItForTheDead has to review too, please! Or a story might end up being haitused... (not this). **

**Ahaha. Yes. Yes, indeed. There _is _a Get Smart reference in there. The old version. I've never watched the movie.  
><strong>


	6. Vampires Don't Sparkle

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Six**

**Title: **Vampires Don't Sparkle

**Genre: **Indignance

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Sequel to _Don't We Look Cute?_; Appearances can be deceiving...

**A/N: **WEDIDITFORTHEDEAD, you just lost some major points! D: He just moved in, of course he has no food! He got bitten, and snakes leave scars. He has a quiet heart, because I tried to mix in his Nobody-ness (Heartlessness) and made it silent, but beating. Also, I'm allergic to sparkles. Yuck. But don't worry. I'm sure no one has yet to take your place... ;)

* * *

><p><em>Knock, knock, knock. <em>

"Please step away from the door, turn around, and return to the elevator. I will not be seeing anyone today," called out the artist irritatedly as he continued stroking the smooth scales.

_KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK. _

Zexion sighed and stayed quiet, but the determined knocking of a persistent fist upon his wooden door caused him to get up from the threadbare sofa and walk over.

He opened the peephole.

"_Would you so kindly–– _Oh. It's you. What do you want?" Innocent green eyes gave him a puppy-dog's expression of confused hurt.

Luckily, the artist was immune to such tactics, and had been for a long time. Living with twelve other children in an orphanage could do that to you.

"Let me in?" Demyx asked sweetly, with just enough sadness in his tone to melt even the coldest heart.

Zexion remained firm in his stance, but wondered if he should let the youth in.

"Why?" A challenge. An intrigued threat.

"I made you some apology cookies. They're for you."

_Redundant fool is redundant. _His throat felt slightly constricted.

Sighing once more, Zexion undid the several locks and bolts on his door and opened it.

Demyx smiled cheerfully in thanks, but froze when he saw his friend.

"Z-Z-Zexion!" he stammered. "There's a snake on your neck!"

A slate-coloured eyebrow rose.

"And...?" Demyx gave him an incredulous look.

"Aren't you worried?"

"Do I have a reason to be? She's quite docile, and, like you said, isn't poisonous. The only thing I have to worry about is being bitten again, and she doesn't seem to enjoy the taste of human flesh. Are you worried?" Demyx shook his head and awkwardly held out the cookies to Zexion.

"They're chocolate chip."

Zexion extended his elegant hand, the sunlight from the window refracting off of his silver and sapphire class ring as he took the transparent bag, and placed it on the table beside him.

"Thank you." They were at a stalemate, with neither willing to make the first move, out of embarrassment and pride.

Demyx swallowed down the lump in his throat and mustered up his courage to apologize.

"Um... I'm sorry for what Roxas said. I didn't know he was going to say that, and... my comment," he laughed nervously; "It just came at the spur of the moment, y'know? And, um, I'm sorry for embarrassing you there. It must've sucked."

_Oh really? Do you think so? _

"So, uh, I hope you enjoy your cookies. I'm sorry." Demyx managed a weak grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, and, uh, you've got guests in about an hour."

Aquamarine eyes widened as Demyx gave him a slightly more confident smile and began eating one of his own cookies.

"_What?_"

* * *

><p>"Oh, <em>wow<em>... you have such a beautiful snake!" was the first thing out of Naminé Strife's mouth as she paused a for moment before she offered her hand to Zexion Evenson upon his opening the door.

She didn't say, "Hi, my name is _!"

She didn't say, "It's _such _an _honor _to meet you, Mr. Evenson!"

She _especially _didn't say, "_I'm your biggest fan!_"

The slate-haired artist found himself liking her almost immediately, and smiled softly in spite of himself, shaking her hand with his left one: his right one currently had the snake wrapped around it. She seemed to like her new perch.  
>"Thank you, Miss...?" The blonde smiled as she bobbed a small curtsy.<p>

"Naminé Strife. At your service and mercy." She looked back over her shoulder. "Roxas's girlfriend Kairi should be here by now... She took the stairs," she added. Zexion felt himself stiffen as he heard the name _Roxas_, and wondered if, by any chance, his girlfriend was similar in personality to him.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Strife. Would you care to come in now, or would you like to wait for your..." He hesitated; "friend?" Naminé thought for a moment.

"Maybe it would be best if I came in? That way, you won't have to wait with your door open for Kairi." She smiled. "Sometimes she gets distracted..."

Zexion nodded and invited the blonde in; she tried very hard to conceal her excitement at entering the (albeit new) apartment of her favourite artist.

In the corner stood several easels, with canvas and paper stretched onto them, along with tubes of paint, cans of water, several brushes and napkins, as well as a colour-stained palette; they all immediately drew her attention and Naminé curiously walked over. Upon seeing it closely, she gasped.

The unfinished painting was _beautiful_. It was a picture of a sunset, over a still ocean, and three friends with their backs facing the viewer sat together on a tree branch, each staring out at the orange sea. Though only half-done, the colours were mesmerizing, and the scene seemed so... _real_.

"That looks _amazing..._" she breathed, not even aware that she had spoken aloud. Zexion smirked.

"Really? Thank you." Naminé gasped and whirled around, but Zexion continued talking. "It's titled, _Destiny Islands_. It was commissioned by the President Ansem, so I'm hoping to finish it in about three months."

"Are those oil paints?" Zexion handed the teen a glass of water and nodded.

"Yes, they are. I prefer pastels and oils, but not acrylic. I––" There was a knock on the door, and Zexion sighed. He walked to the door (Naminé stood around, staring out the window) and opened it. Kairi's loud voice immediately hit his ears.

"_Oh my gosh Roxas was _RIGHT!" she exclaimed, looking up at him. "You _do _look like a vampire! You're pale, you wear black..." Her eyes caught sight of his class ring, and her eyebrows rose.

"_You're wearing silver? _But those kill––" Naminé made a throat-slicing motion, begging her cousin to stop. Kairi gave her a confused look and looked up at Zexion, before grabbing his arm (not even noticing the snake) and bringing him into the sunlight from the window, and scrutinizing him closely.

"Huh. You don't sparkle..."

Naminé's palm met her forehead. Zexion narrowed his eyes.

"Such a ludicrous thought. Of _course_ I do not sparkle! Neither do vampires. Are you out of your _mind?_" He glared at her as he tugged his long sleeves down a bit lower. "I would suggest to you, Miss Kairi, that you learn some manners and come back when you're halfway decent. Good day." He turned his back to the redhead and continued conversing with Naminé as though she weren't there, explaining some of his techniques, and showing her some other works of his.

Kairi left indignantly, annoyed at the artist's coldness, and yanked open Demyx's door, barging in.

"The _nerve _of that man!" she fumed. Demyx looked up from the book he was reading and smirked.

"You speak of him as though he's your guy." Kairi threw him a look.

"_You _wish that. If he was yours, you'd be oh-so-happy, but _no_, he throws me out after I call him a _vampire_, and... _urgh! _How can Naminé _like _him?"

Demyx gave her an amused look, nodding as she commented on his crush, and shrugged.

"You offended him. Besides, the two are artists, and doesn't she like him?"

"But he's got so little _patience!_" Demyx grinned.

"He can seem like that."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Short. And I rushed. My apologies! :D **

**Reviews are the anti-sparkles to my real vampires!  
><strong>


	7. Smooth Sailing

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Seven**

**Title: **Smooth Sailing

**Genre: **Humour, Friendship

**Rating: **T

**Summary:** A fascination with hair doesn't help the situation...

**Pairings: **Vanitas/Xion, Maruxia/Larxene, Terra/Aqua, Sora/Kairi, Zexion/Naminé, Reno/Naminé, Anti-Zemyx

**A/N: **Poor, _poor _Zexion *Cheshire grin* (Yeah, I'm feeling a little cruel today) OH! There's a reference to another story of mine, fifty points to who guesses it right! (WeDidItForTheDead, you do not count. You would know the answer _immediately_, hahaha)

**Shoutout: **Hope Eternal! I love you! :D (in a totally platonic, friend-way) Thanks for reviewing and messaging me!

* * *

><p>The sky was blue, the air was clean, and the wind was fresh that day. The non-student adults of the group (Marluxia, Larxene, Saïx, and Axel) had decided that everyone was to take the day off, to celebrate their ability to pay the rent on time <em>and <em>in full, and had agreed to take the "little 'uns" to a surprise vacation by the sea.

After piling everyone into both Axel's and Saïx's trucks, the twelve had given the younger members of their 'family' special sunglasses to block their vision.

Blindfolds would have seemed too suspicious, should a cop pull them over.

Two hours of singing, word games, mindless chatter, long silences, and inevitable boredom later, the crimson and cobalt trucks (respectively) finally arrived at the scorching parking lot by the sandy shore.

Axel grinned as he parked his large truck perfectly between the white lines.

"Alright, kiddos, you can take your sunglasses off... _now!_" The three girls, two brothers, musician, bookworm, and Gothic boyfriend took off their black spectacles simultaneously, and most drew in sharp gasps of surprise.

"_Wow, _this is _incredible!_" exclaimed Sora with all of his enthusiasm. Roxas rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling as his eyes scanned the beach.

The sand was soft, a few patches of grass sprang up here and there, and the ocean was a terrific shade of clear, tropical blue; a few bamboo beach houses, for parties and available for rent, stood around, with large glass windows to reveal the beautiful view. Xion hugged Vanitas in her excitement, softly squealing as she did so. Naminé hugged her sketchbook close to her chest, and her eyes glittered with the thought of all the drawings and paintings she could create; a pale hand strayed to the canvas tote bag by her side. Zexion looked around with quiet impression, admiring the tropical clearness of the water.

_Demyx_'s eyes grew wide at the sight of the most beautiful thing on Earth (to his mind), and he made ready to dash off to the ocean, beach bag in hand, when Kairi saw his intentions and jumped on his back.

"Carry me!" she said, sounding like a four-year-old child. Demyx grinned wickedly and ran off, with the redheaded girl on his back.

Larxene pouted, and poked Marluxia.

"You should do that to _me_ sometime," she said with a sly tone, but shrieked in shock when her pink-haired boyfriend complied with her words and scooped her up and carried her on his back, racing against the mullethawked youth, the two of them laughing all the way.

Axel laughed at their silly antics, and elbowed Saïx in the ribs. The blue-haired man did not even look his way when he answered.

"No." There would be _no _arguing the point.

The redhead pouted and sighed as he began to unload the truck, with the help of Roxas and Zexion.

"See how _boring _Saïx is?" he grinned as he lifted up a drinks-cooler. Zexion shrugged and took out the towels for everyone, and Roxas thought for a moment as he took out the umbrellas.

"What if you jumped on his back anyway?"

"Have you _seen _his martial arts trophies?"

"...Never mind, then." 

The trio successfully managed to shanghai Xion and Vanitas into taking down the drinks, snacks, and umbrellas, and grinned as the couple grudgingly obliged.

Zexion, feeling somewhat sorry for the two, carried the towels for them.

* * *

><p>"Isn't this <em>great?<em>" asked Demyx as he twirled around, arms outspread, on the beach. Kairi was sitting in the shade, fanning herself with her hand, and was smiling at the scene before her. Marluxia and Larxene were collapsed on the sand, trying to make sand-angels; Roxas and Sora were building sand castles with shells and starfish for decorations (Roxas's looked cooler and more realistic (his had a _moat_), but Sora's was prettier (with seaweed for the gates) to Kairi's mind); Naminé was already drawing her third picture; and Vanitas, Xion, Zexion, and Saïx were setting their area up.

Slight unease stirred within Zexion's subconscious.

_Why isn't anyone here? _The beach was quite deserted (only a few people were walking about), but there were a few crabs scuttling around on the hot sand, and some seagulls were loitering about, looking for people to steal junk food from. He pushed the matter from his mind, and resumed setting up the umbrellas. _We're just lucky. After all, it _is _a workday for almost everyone..._

Just then, Larxene got up from her sand-angel, gave Marluxia a quick kiss (cutting it off quickly before it got _too _passionate), and clapped her hands.

"M'kay, girls! Time to get changed!" She led the three high-school teens to the locker rooms, with Naminé going somewhat reluctantly: she had been in the middle of shading in her picture.

The locker room was quite clean, but held a strong smell of deodorant and brine. Kairi dressed herself in a simple red one-piece, one that showed off her back and just enough of her chest to catch attention, but not near enough to get in trouble; Naminé wore a blue and white striped one-piece, with a blue hibiscus in her hair to match, and Xion wore a dark purple tank-top with a same-shade sarong.

Larxene wore a blue bikini, showing off her curves and flat, toned, but pale middle, and grinned at the three others.

"We look _fabulous. _Now go out and have some fun! Don't forget sunblock, and Xion, make sure Vanitas's hands don't stray..." she added with a wink. Xion blushed profusely, and the others laughed along.

Fabulous was one of the words describing the four of them. As soon as they walked out of the locker rooms, several strangers of the opposite gender began looking in their direction, but none of them dared approach. Larxene was well-known for her fierceness and unexpected loyalty to her "family", even this far away. She traveled a lot for her work.

Marluxia looked up from the sandcastle he was making with the help of Sora and Zexion, and gave his girlfriend a once-over. She smirked and draped herself on him from behind, loosely twirling a lock of his feathery pink hair.

Sora glanced at Kairi and began blushing profusely, and concentrated intently on his sandcastle. Zexion looked up at Naminé and allowed the two a small smile, delicately painting her white face a light shade of star-lily pink.

All of this paled in comparison when Vanitas saw his girlfriend. When she walked towards him in her slightly revealing dark purple swimsuit, he set down his coke, looked at her for a moment, gave her a sly smile, and tackled her to the sand, beginning a kissing contest between them, seeing who could last longer without gasping for breath (much to the shock of Demyx and Saïx and amusement of Roxas and Axel).

* * *

><p>Kairi returned to her private spot in the shade and thought up the perfect idea.<p>

"Hey, Sora?" she called over. Sora pointed at himself, then, seeing Kairi nod, abandoned his sandcastle (at which Marluxia was still working on: he was _determined _to not give in to Larxene; he was also helping Zexion finish his sand-city) and walked over.

"Yeah?" he asked cheerfully, wondering what on Earth she could possibly want. Kairi smiled.

"Could you put some sunblock on my back, please? I can't reach..." Sora blushed almost as red as Axel's hair, and eyed the coconut-scented lotion bottle doubtfully. Kairi was one of the most flexible he knew, with the exception of Larxene and maybe Axel, who had previously removed his lowest set of ribs for...unknown reasons. To him at least. He knew for a fact, though, that Axel's brother had found it hilarious, and Saïx, Larxene, Marluxia, and Zexion had found it distasteful.

"Are you sure? ...Why not ask Naminé? She's closer..." Kairi shrugged.

"I wanted _you _to help me, Sora," she smiled. "Pretty please?" Sora stared at his feet shyly and nodded, and flipped the cap off the bottle.

Instantly, the scent (or were they fumes?) of coconut blossomed (invaded? Sora couldn't tell) the air as the brunet poured some sunblock onto his hands and tentatively, timidly began massaging it into her smooth skin, trying to ignore the blush on his face and the obvious crush on his friend he was trying to hide.

Naminé happened to notice Sora shyly rubbing sunblock onto his crush's back, and, smiling slyly, she took out her waterproof digital A/X CORP camera and snapped a photo, contemplating placing it on the front page of that year's scrapbook. She didn't notice as Zexion walked over, and jumped as he addressed her.

"Do you know where–– Are you alright?" Naminé shook her head and smiled briefly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry." She looked up at the slate-haired young man. "Do I know where...?" Zexion stared at her for a moment before comprehending what she said.

"Oh. I was going to ask you if you knew where Sora was? I wanted to ask him a question." Naminé giggled behind her hand and pointed over to the secluded, shady spot.

"He's with Kairi. She asked him to apply sunblock to her back and..." she trailed off, gesturing vaguely with her hand as if to say, _you-know-how-it-is_. Zexion's mouth quirked into a thin line, as if he had unexpectedly bitten a peppercorn.

"My question can wait," he said, with a possible tone of slight distaste, as he gracefully sat down next to Naminé on the sand. "May I see your drawing?" he asked. The blonde girl nodded and handed him her sketchbook.

His aquamarine eyes skimmed over the picture, and focused on the main people. The silhouettes of a tall guy and a slightly shorter girl were holding hands by the beach, and the detail was _incredible_. The picture looked less like a drawing and more like a photograph, but such was the nature of Naminé's talents.

"It's... really good," he said, as he returned the sketchbook to the blonde. She smiled greatly, and blushed even deeper. Zexion's tone and expression had revealed to her that it was _much _better than really good in his eyes, but, as before, he never gave her anything better than "That's good," or "It looks quite nice." He could be oddly shy like that sometimes.

"Thanks," she whispered, and took the notepad back. Then, in a sudden moment of utter stupidity and sweetness, she leaned up, barely placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Both froze at the innocent gesture, and Naminé's hands immediately flew to her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, that just happened, I didn't mean to––" But Zexion looked at her with a kind of... a kind of emotion she had never before seen in the quiet, studious youth's eyes.

"Did you really... not mean to?" he asked quietly, lightly touching the spot where her lips had kissed him. Naminé's mouth opened slightly, and she shook her head _so _slightly, it could have been his imagination, but he knew it wasn't, and it was all he needed.

Gently, Zexion leaned in and kissed her back, this time on her lips, and this time, both of them meant it.

* * *

><p>Marluxia couldn't resist any longer. What with Larxene's slinky postures, sweet flirting, and several innuendos, seemingly innocent to the pure-minded driving him crazy, and the slight scent of sweet sea salt in the air, his poor mind was demanding that he do something about that blonde <em>tease<em>.

So he did.

While Larxene was chatting away to Saïx about some local horror myth about a sea-demon, Marluxia took her arm, whirled her around, and kissed her full on the mouth, right as she was, mid-sentence. She froze for a moment, then melted in the pink-haired man's arms, leaving Saïx to awkwardly look down at the sand and walk back to Axel, who stood loitering about restlessly near the parking lot.

As the two made-out quite publicly (but decently: Marluxia's impeccable manners would not allow him to go any further and scar the minds of their friends (_especially _with such young members of the family such as Naminé and Sora)), Saïx began talking to his redhaired friend.

"Why are you so restless?" he asked in his slightly monotone voice, truly curious as to his friend's actions. Axel glanced at him and smiled weakly.

"Um, I, uh..." A red Jeep, with the top down and several bathing-suit clad people inside, pulled up, blasting loud music, and brought a grin to the redhead's face.

"They're here! C'mon!" Axel grabbed Saïx's arm and brought him over to the parked Jeep, just as the people inside began pouring out.

The first to exit the vehicle was another redhead, who looked extraordinarily similar to Axel, and was followed by five other people, each wearing patterned swim-wear and sporting colourful hairstyles. The two men grinned identical smirks at each other, before initiating their own, secret handshake, and hugging briefly when done.

"Reno!"

"Axel!"

"Tifa?"

"Red!"

"_Cloud?_"

"Yeah?"

"_Saïx?_"

"Aqua."

In the midst of all the one-worded exclamations and greetings, Axel looked at a tall brunet and cocked his head.

"Who're you?"

"Terra. Aqua's date." At 'date', the blue-haired girl, short locks a shade lighter than Saïx's, linked her arm around his and smiled.

"Yeah. We met at this rave for Wave Gigs, and _totally _hit it off, you know? Anyway, we're here! Is the stuff set up?" Axel waved a hand over his shoulder, gesturing to the beach further down.

"Yeah, we've got everything set up. All we need is the music and the net, yo." Tifa grinned at Axel's use of Reno's accent, and grabbed the net from the car as Reno hauled up the large music player and winked at his brother.

"Then let's get this party started, yo!"

* * *

><p>As soon as the volleyball net was set up and the music was playing (<em>loudly<em>) in their own section of the beach, everyone got up and began either playing or dancing, or, in Kairi's, Sora's, Roxas's, Demyx's, and Xion's case, _both_. As they hit the ball over the net, trying to keep it off the sand, they moved to the beat and busted out the latest moves to the popular band Wave Gig's newest song, _Hidden Atlantica_.

It didn't take long for Aqua and Terra to join in the dancing, either, as they drank their sodas and snacked on the candy Larxene had bought. Naminé took a photo of their family and friends dancing, and tucked her camera away back in her canvas bag, and cuddled closer to Zexion.

Almost right after Axel's brother and crew had arrived, the redhead had ordered all of the guys to change into their swimsuits (much like Larxene, but without the singsong tones), challenging them all to a race to see who could change the fastest. Saïx had won (to the surprise of many), with a pair of navy blue swim trunks. Second was Demyx, who had on green swim trunks with two small yellow-and-orange fish embroidered onto the hem; then Roxas and Sora, with yellow and bright blue shorts; and then Axel and Marluxia, with red and black trunks. Zexion and Vanitas were last, as neither cared about the game (which was very strange, as Vanitas was one of the most competitive people they all knew), with Zexion wearing slightly longer dark blue shorts, and Vanitas wearing jet black trunks.

Axel had commented on how at least Marluxia's swimsuit wasn't _pink_, earning him a cuff on a shoulder.

Naminé smiled at what Zexion had told her had happened in the locker room, and complimented the shade of trousers he wore. Zexion muttered a slightly confused thank-you, because whoever had heard of someone complimenting a guy's swimsuit?, when suddenly the volleyball bounced and landed at their feet.

"Toss it back!" called out Larxene, waving at her friend. Naminé looked at the ball and grinned, tugging at the slate-haired junior's hand.

"Let's go play!"

"Wait, wha––" But even as he protested, he was pulled into the game, and even managed to score three points for their team.

Tifa, a twenty-something-year-old with long, black hair and many curves, raised a hand and grinned.

"You're good. Played before?" she asked. Zexion shook his head.

"Not really. Naminé just pulled me in, and..." he trailed off. Tifa nodded.

"Yeah, I do that to Cloud sometimes too. There, with the blond spiky hair? Yeah. My boyfriend," she said, with a dreamy tone. Zexion noticed the song in the background ending, and it seemed Reno did as well, as he finished up the game and walked over.

"Yo, Rude!" he called out to the DJ. "Put on _Million Bucks_, will ya?" The sunglassed man at the stereo  
>nodded and obliged, glancing over at Tifa's way before changing the Wave Gigs' song.<p>

* * *

><p>Reno grinned as he approached the small blonde girl, who was once again drawing, forfeiting the volleyball game.<p>

"Hey," he greeted casually. The girl shyly looked up.

"Hello," she said softly.

"What's your name? You draw well," he complimented. She blushed and seemed more confident around him, and answered clearly, "Naminé."

"Naminé... Naminé, Naminé, Naminé... cool name! I'm Reno," he said, smiling. Naminé giggled behind her hand. He obviously didn't remember her from the times he visited the house. Then again, she always stayed out of the way of guests.

"You live with my brother and his friends, don't you?"

Oh. So he _did _remember. Naminé nodded.

"Yeah, I've seen you before. 'Course, you don't talk much. Leastways, not around me, yo." He grinned easily and winked at her.

"Well, catchya later, sweetheart. Enjoy the party!"

Naminé watched him as he left, and vaguely wondered if he had been flirting with her.

* * *

><p>Terra, Aqua, and Xion sat down together exhaustedly on one of the towels. The game had ended, with their team (including Marluxia, Vanitas, Axel, Cloud, Sora, and Kairi) winning against Demyx's (including Larxene, Saïx, Roxas, Reno, and at one point, Naminé, Tifa, and Zexion) by three points.<p>

As they sipped their drinks, Terra grinned a devious smile.

"Hey, Xion... it's Xion, isn't it?"

"Yes?" Terra glanced over at her and downed the rest of his soda in one go.

"How do you feel about scary stories?" he asked, as Vanitas walked over and sat down behind his girlfriend.

"They're alright, I guess... Why?" Terra shrugged and looped an arm around Aqua's waist, causing the blue-haired girl to blush.

"Oh, you know... I was wondering if you knew the story of the sea-demon. It's a pretty popular myth, and they say it happened at _this beach_..." His voice lowered conspiratorially. "Are you interested?"

Xion leaned forward ever-so-slightly and nodded.

"Sure." She felt Vanitas's hands snake around her waist and shivered as Terra began the tale.

"Well, once, they say that there was an incredibly handsome sea-demon––"

"I heard 'incredibly handsome'. Are we discussing me?" cut in Demyx as he walked over. Vanitas glared at him for interrupting the story, but Terra grinned.

"Oh, yes, totally. Actually no, I was telling Xion a horror story, but you're welcome to hear if you like..." Demyx thought for a moment then nodded, plopping down onto the sand and propping himself up on his elbows. Terra cleared his throat.

"_Anyway_... there once was an incredibly handsome sea-demon with silver hair and silver scales, and he used to seduce swimmers and eat their hearts. He looked like a human from the waist up, and would draw unwary people's attention to his cave, _wayyy _over there," he gestured, pointing at the tan rocks quite far away, "and would drown them, before drinking some of their blood like a Dracula vampire and tearing out their hearts to eat. They say that each heart grants him as many years it has seen, so he's basically immortal. And, the best thing is," he lowered his voice; "he loves to prey on beautiful girls and has _never been caught._ The end!" he ended cheerfully, giving Aqua a quick peck on the cheek.

Xion and Demyx, who had been so engrossed in the story, were taken quite aback by the sudden ending.

"Is... is that all?"

"Was it _true?_"

"Well _you've _no need to worry, Demyx! You're a guy! But..." Vanitas cut her off with a kiss to her mouth.

"If some nutjob fishman's gonna try to eat _your _heart, rest assured I'll take care of him first. After all, that's basically like stealing from me!"

Xion and Aqua laughed, and Demyx merely glanced at the direction of the cave.

* * *

><p>A few hours passed as the party dwindled down and ended, with most of Reno's friends having to return home for the day, but for the House's tenants (and Axel's brother), only half the fun was over.<p>

With a dramatic flourish and a smirk and a bow, Marluxia revealed the large boat they had rented for the day (after taking a few bills out of the bank), and bade everyone board, as they would be seeing one of the most beautiful things off the shore of Destiny Islands.

And so, thirteen people boarded the luxurious Quiet Belladonna and set off from the shore at around six bells on the afternoon watch.

The scent of charcoal mingled with the salty air as Axel and Reno stoked up the fire in the grill, ready to cook hamburgers for their delayed lunch. Demyx sat off to the side, playing _Prince of Awesome _by Wave Gigs quietly on the stereo, and Kairi was dancing to the hip-hoppin tunes of _The Gullwings_.

"The ocean... it's so beautiful..." breathed Naminé as she leaned over the rail of the speeding ship. Zexion placed a warning hand on her shoulder, just in case she should fall.

"There's an even more beautiful world underneath..." he said softly. "Colourful reefs... jewel-like fish... small shells with designs so unique, you'd never find one exactly the same agai––"

"Hey, Slate-head! Come help with the hamburgers, yo!" called Reno cheerfully from the bow of the ship, below the observing-deck. Zexion sighed at the broken magic and kissed Naminé on the cheek. She gave him an apologetic smile as he went down the white stairs, and once again took out her sketchbook and began drawing the ocean view, when there was a sudden yell of surprise and a splash of water.

"_Man overboard!_" shouted Roxas, and Naminé's eyes widened.

_Oh no..._

She jumped over the railing with nimble agility and landed next to the steering-room, and opened the door, bursting in.

"Marluxia! Stop the boat!" The pink-haired man looked at her with surprised blue eyes and cut the engine, causing the boat to slow to a stop, and glanced at the blonde.

"What happened?" Naminé's eyes were wide, and she shook her head.

"I don't know! But Roxas shouted _Man overboard _and the boat was moving too fast and none of us are wearing life jackets and––" Marluxia's long fingers gently but firmly pressed against Naminé's mouth, stopping her from talking, both from shock and pressure.

"_Breathe_," he instructed, and did not remove his fingers until she did so. "Whoever fell will be fine. Say that."

"Whoever fell will be fine..." said Naminé softly, eyes full of worry. Marluxia nodded.

"They've probably already pulled them up, so let's go check on the situation, shall we?" He opened the door for her (which had bounced off the wall and closed itself again) and followed her through, but ran with her as they dashed to the bow of the ship.

"Who fell?" Naminé looked around, counting off who was there and who wasn't. Xion, Sora, and Larxene were sleeping in the Captain's cabin, and the others were all out here, so...

But Demyx answered her question before she figured it out.

"I, er... Zexion fell," he said lamely. Naminé ran over to the railing and searched for her slate-haired friend, and saw him a few meters away.

Axel and Reno began looking for a nice, clean life-hoop to toss to Zexion, but found that they were too short of rope.

"Marluxia! Take us closer," called out Vanitas. Larxene's pink-haired boyfriend nodded.

"On it." He carefully, expertly, steered the boat slowly over to Zexion, who treaded water in extreme annoyance, and moved the ship carefully over so as to not drag him under with the force of the propellers.

* * *

><p>Demyx was watching him with extreme fascination. Crushes and admiration notwithstanding, Zexion looked incredibly interesting, handsome, and <em>cool<em>. The way the water had plastered his slate-coloured hair to his head looked so strange, so different, that Demyx couldn't help but be drawn to it. It looked _weird_, but _cool _in a strange way, the same way when you were seeing someone who looked like they just walked out of an anime with an outrageous hairstyle and outfit was strange, and you couldn't help but stare in awe.

Zexion was glaring straight back in Demyx's direction, and was treading the cold, salty water in frustrated, impatient indignation, vexed and annoyed at the "family"'s musician, and at his _infernal _clumsiness. It was _his _fault he had fallen overboard, and, while he could have very well swam over to the boat and climbed back on board, instead of waiting for them to come to him, he was having a very vengeful moment and would settle for nothing less than petty revenge (_was _there something less? he wondered)_._ For the moment, anyways.

He knew that his maturity would return to its normal above-average (_definitely _above-average) state after a few minutes.

The boat turned around, and they were almost within reach of tossing him the lifeline, and Demyx was _still _staring with innocent fascination at his slicked, plastered, _ruined_ hair.

_Damn it all, you incompetent fool! _Zexion shivered in the cold water, and waited for Axel and Reno to toss him their life-hoops, but then Saïx tossed him a different lifeline from closer down the boat, and looked at him.

"Grab it."

Zexion shrugged and pulled the lifeline, swimming towards it and allowing his thin frame to be lifted up by Saïx (he thanked him once he recovered), and onto the boat. Naminé quickly ran over and hugged him, but not before covering him with a towel first.

"You must be so cold, are you alright?"

But the slate-haired man didn't hear her. Neither did he hear Axel's question of why he didn't swim over.

He strode three steps and stood in front of the weakly grinning mullethawked man.

_Fool of a musician! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!_

"_You_." It wasn't a statement. It wasn't a question. It was a frustrated accusation. Demyx laughed nervously.

"Yeah. Me." Zexion's eyes narrowed, and everyone quieted down to see what would happen next.

"_Demyx_, _you_––"

"Aah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to knock you over!" he said, covering his head. "I didn't even know you were there! So please don't hurt me...?" The last part came out as a mix between a comical whimper and a squeak.

Somewhere on his hidden face, Zexion _knew _Demyx was hiding a smile. He gave his younger neighbor a final glare before turning on his bare heel and walking off, down to the Captain's quarters, to warm up and change into new shorts.

As soon as he and Naminé were gone, the deck burst into laughter, barely and failingly suppressed. Axel and Reno had doubled over, and Kairi was giggling behind her hand; Roxas only smiled. Saïx and Vanitas were the only ones not laughing, and looked at each other in quiet, muted exasperation.

_Some people_.

"HOLY––" exclaimed Axel as he noticed the hamburgers were on fire. He quickly beat the flames out, but gave the burnt once-meat a disgusted glare.

"Yuck. Burnt to a _crisp_."

"Nice going, yo," teased Reno. Axel rolled his eyes and called Roxas over.

"Hey Roxas. If you wanna feed the dolphins, _here_," he said, handing him the burnt patties. "See if they like crispy beef. Crispy _burnt _beef." He turned to Vanitas. "What have we got left?"

The dark-haired youth swung down from the upper deck and examined the contents of the cooler and grimaced.

"Not much. We have microwave ramen and mac'n'cheese." He pulled a face. "_Yuck_."Roxas took the meat and went back to the stern, and sat there, continuing on reading his book.

* * *

><p>That night, as the moon rose high after the sun went down, and the dolphins were swimming and jumping into the air, the thirteen family members sat down wherever they felt like on the stopped boat and ate either noodles or fattening, cheap pasta for dinner as they admired the view (but not necessarily the meal). Zexion had dried off and his hair had returned to normal, and the angered tension had lessened quite a bit.<p>

Demyx sighed as he swallowed down some noodles. He really did like Zexion's hair slick and plastered like that

_Well, we don't have to be by the sea to have his hair like that. It could be at night. It could be in my room. Maybe his. _

He sighed and smiled wistfully, leaning back, and accidentally bumping against Sora (who did not fall).

_Should've taken that picture..._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:G0ddamn line breaks won't work! FANFICTION! YA HEAR? jk jk I love you. Except when you fxxx up like this. D:  
><strong>

**Yepp! That _is _a The Lord of the Rings reference! I really love Tolkein's books. But there were a lot of KH references here! Who caught 'em all?**

**QUIZ! What do you think A/X CORP stands for? CORP for Corporation obviously, but what about A and X? :D **

****Until next time! **  
><strong>


	8. TruthDareDoubleDareKiss or Loophole?

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Eight**

**Title: **Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, Kiss a Girl or Loophole?

**Genre: **Humour, Romance

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**_ Never _underestimate the power of loopholes...

**Pairings: **Vanitas/Naminé, Marluxia/cake, Demyx/Larxene, Sora/Axel, Anti-Zemyx, anti-social Zexion

**A/N: **Mwahaha. Actually, since today's DemLar day, I've added that in. Oh, and I've switched things up a bit. **No relevance to other chapters**. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>It was Saturday night, and the crew (all twelve of them) had decided to gather at the Strife brothers' rather large penthouse for a weekend sleepover party, with the added bonus of the brothers' parents never being home, and thus allowing them to be as rowdy as they liked. Sometimes it was a good thing that the family owned the sixtieth, sixty-first, and sixty-second floors of the skyscraper all to themselves, with only empty office buildings and photo studios below, and no-one to complain about the volume or lyrics of the music.<p>

The hosts, Vanitas, Roxas, and Sora Strife, anxiously awaited with both impatience and excitement for their guests to arrive in the lobby. Vanitas, with dark, spiky hair, locks styled in the same hairdo as Sora's, had draped himself on a red chintz sofa, giving him a comfortable and stylish pose, as well as a good view of the glass double doors.

Roxas, the only blond in the trio, with spiked hair not nearly as gravity-defying as Sora's and Vanitas's, leaned against the reception counter, and was rolling a pencil on the marble counter in boredom.

Sora, the youngest of the three, and by far the most cheerfullest, had milk-chocolate-brown hair, and an easy smile. He sat on the carpet by the potted plants, and, despite Vanitas's position, was the first to see their earliest friends arrive.

Tifa Lockhart pulled up to the dark, tall skyscraper with the lit up sign of _Strife's Modeling Company_ adorning the overhang above the doors in her sleek, black car, and clicked her tongue at her three younger siblings.

"This looks like a pretty fancy place. _Try _not to destroy anything, will you?" She gave a wink to the lanky, redheaded young man to her right. "If you burn it, Axel, you're paying."

Axel grinned and began flipping a silver lighter between his long fingers, faster and faster so that it shimmered like a minnow diving between, underneath, and over his fingers, all the while he was replying to his sister.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, sis," he grinned. The lighter was still hurtling through his fingers skillfully. "But this is _Strife's _house; I _always _watch my back around them!"

The two girls in the back giggled, and Tifa sighed.

"Alright... be safe, you three," she said with a smile. "Call me when you need me, alright?"

The lighter suddenly stopped, flicked its own top off, and lit itself, right as Tifa finished talking. Axel grinned cheerfully and offered Tifa the flame, but she politely declined.

"_Show off_," she muttered fondly, as she shooed them all from her car. "You _know _I don't smoke!" But Axel merely shrugged and gave his sister a two-fingered salute, as she drove the car away, leaving him and his two twin sisters with their duffel bags on the curb.

As they walked through the doors and into the lobby, they were suddenly ambushed by the three brothers tossing themselves bodily onto the guests, tackling them and pinning them to the floor.

Sora took down Axel, Vanitas took down Xion, and Roxas tackled Kairi.

"Welcome to the first floor lobby of Strife's Modeling Company! Here we have the best entertainment awaiting you this weekend. Please enjoy your stay!" chirped Sora cheerfully, but with a mischievous glint in his eye, to his victim. Axel grinned back at his ambusher with acid green eyes, and pretended to struggle against the brunet's hold.

"Never! You'll never take me alive!" Sora laughed at his friend's comic act, but did not see his true intention: as soon as Sora relaxed his grip, the lanky young man with scarlet hair even _more _gravity-defying than Sora's flipped their positions and pinned his brunet friend tightly to the ground, with a smirk adorning his face. Sora pouted.

"Not fair." Axel grinned and lowered his face to Sora's.

"Too bad." The brunet felt his face heating up, but just then, his victim-turned-captor pulled him up by the arm and winked at him, and looked over at his youngest sister.

Though the youngest and undoubtedly sweetest, most girlish, and shyest of the four siblings, Xion could be a little tough when she wanted to be, and she and Vanitas were currently rolling around on the floor, wresting for who got to pin who down and win the game. Sora watched with fascination, all thoughts of the moments before forgotten, as he saw the two tumble around and miraculously not bump into any furniture. Axel glanced at his other sister, and grinned at what he saw.

Kairi and Roxas were furiously playing Rock Paper Scissors for some strange reason, and each time they picked their choice, they ended up tying. In frustration, the two continued playing, neither giving up out of pride.

In all the friendly mayhem, the six did not notice the door open again, and only stopped their antics when someone loudly cleared their throat.

"Ah-_em_." Everyone froze and looked up at the two figures before them, both with identical expressions of boredom and disinterest, and both with expressions that clearly stated that they wished to be somewhere else. Axel's face lit up.

"_Saïx!_" He ran over and hugged the blue-haired young man, much to his surprise, and the blue-haired _let _him, much to the _redhead's _surprise. Roxas looked up from his game with Kairi, and regarded the two with surprise.

"You two came?" Saïx nodded, and gestured to the shorter figure behind him as Axel let go, one with slate-coloured, layered hair.

"Zexion came as well." Zexion stared at the carpeted floor, and held tightly on to his black duffel bag, always remaining just inside Saïx's shadow.

"Well _someone's _shy," teased Vanitas. "Don't worry, once everyone gets here we'll go upstairs." He untangled himself from Xion (who managed to win their little competition) and stood up, bushing himself off, and looking outside to see if anyone else was there.

Sora was thankful for the one-way windows: if anyone had seen how close he and Axel were... He shook his head and put it out of his mind, and smiled friendily as Vanitas led in the last of the guests: Larxene and Naminé Foudre, Demyx Nocturne, and Marluxia Assassin.

The three brothers excitedly led the nine guests up the elevator and into their top penthouse (everyone except for Demyx ignored the Wave Gigs song _Million Bucks _playing on the built-in radio; the musician was busy giving everyone smiles as he strummed his air-guitar expertly and mouthed the words), and cranked up the music _really _high as they started their party.

As sweet-looking but sharp-tongued Naminé Foudre began dancing on the patterned dance floor with Vanitas (who was slowly but surely developing a crush on the spunky artist), Kairi began a game of Bingo with Roxas, Axel, and Sora (the two had _still _not managed to get anything besides a tie, and were determined to settle who was the winner). Demyx and Larxene were out on the balcony, having a rather romantic moment (complete with a side of innocent kissing and tentative hugs), and Marluxia had helped himself to a large slice of angel's food cake, and was eating it as he watched Sora and Axel forfeit the game of Bingo and move to the dance machine, ready to bust out the necessary moves to get a high score. Vanitas set out a large, crystal punch bowl with chopped up fruit floating on the top, as well as several sweet hors d'oeuvres, as Naminé went to the bathroom to fix up her hair for the next round of extreme dancing to _Power Chord's _song _Striker_, the top-selling song of the year.

Marluxia finished his first slice of cake as he quietly watched everyone do their own thing, and went to get another slice, as well as a cup of punch.

The cake was delicious. Smooth, white, creamy, and fluffy, the dessert was rich but still somewhat light, and perfectly made. Marluxia imagined that if the cake was a human, then he would ask it to marry him (in a moment of spiked-punch-drunkenness), but it wasn't human, and the cake was a lie. The spiked punch was probably what was making it taste so good.

Axel grinned at his tipsy friend and clapped him on the back.

"Already drunk, Marly? Tsk, tsk, and yet you hold your wine so well," he teased. Marluxia glared at him, still sober enough to muster dignity, and watched as the redhead dashed back to the dance station, where the short brunet was waving him over.

He sighed and walked over to the two Diviner brothers, both sitting down on the couches and reading books, and sat down next to Saïx.

"Aren't you having fun?" he asked. Saïx glanced at him from out of the corner of his eye.

"No." Demyx, who had been walking by, hand-in-hand with Larxene, overheard the deadpanned answer and jumped into the conversation from shock.

"_No? _You're kidding, right, Sai?"

"Sai never kids," Zexion said sullenly. Larxene smirked and winked at Demyx, before striding over to the refreshment table and filling a paper cup full of punch.

"_This'll _give him some fun," she said with a giggle, as she thrust the cup into Saïx's hand.

Zexion's elder brother looked at it warily, but shrugged and downed it.

Fortunately, it was not spiked with beer, only vodka.

Unfortunately, he held his liquor _quite _well, and could probably even _drive _after drinking five martinis.

But with one thing and another, Demyx, Larxene, and Marluxia managed to get Saïx drunk enough to loosen up and enjoy himself at the party (Axel even witnessed his old friend winning in a dance show-down between himself, Naminé, and Kairi, who had won the Bingo game).

Zexion watched from the sofas and took care to not touch _any _drink that was given to him.

* * *

><p>After a few hours of dancing, music, Scrabble, drunken Monopoly (in which bank robberies were a common occurrence and so <em>completely <em>legal), off-key karaoke, and candy poker (with sweets instead of money and chips), nearly everyone was drunk enough off of Vanitas's spiked punch and was ready to play Truth or Dare.

Marluxia and Zexion were ordered to arrange everyone in a circle, and managed to sit Xion next to Roxas, who sat next to Sora, who was next to Axel, next to Demyx, next to Zexion, next to Naminé, next to Vanitas, next to Kairi, next to Saïx, next to Larxene, next to Marluxia.

Kairi grinned as she decided that, instead of playing Truth or Dare, she wanted to play Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, Kiss a Girl or Torture. Saïx wholeheartedly agreed with her, going even so far as to hug her in his state of disorientation, and prompted forth a good amount of laughs.

Even his little brother was getting used to the party, and was talking more and more, slowly coming out of his shell.

"Alright," said Roxas, grinning. "Sora! You go first!" Sora tilted his head and thought for a moment, as his brother called out Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, Kiss a Girl or Torture. His face lit up as he thought of an answer.

"Double-Dare!" he shouted, before falling over. He quickly got back up, and listened to what Roxas's dare was.

Sora had to move and speak like a chicken for a whole hour, with every word in English having to be fined by a dunk of his head into the sink.

Sora made quite sure that he did not stray into his natural tongue.

With Sora unable to speak clearly, it became Axel's turn, who chose Kiss a Girl, and was ordered by Roxas to kiss Larxene full on the nose.

Both redhead and blonde blushed as he complied.

Then it was Demyx, then Naminé (Zexion pretended to be asleep to skip his turn), Vanitas, Saïx, and soon the game had finished two rounds already, when Axel thought of an idea.

He whispered something into Roxas's ear and smirked, as Roxas crawled over and whispered Axel's idea to Vanitas, who smirked and whispered the idea to Kairi.

"Demyx!" she crowed. " Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, Kiss a Girl or Torture?" Demyx slumped against the beige ottoman and shrugged, smiling.

"Dare," he said, "and make it a good one!" Kairi grinned, and revealed to everyone Axel's idea.

"Demyx! I dare you to kiss Zexion!" Everyone laughed at this, as it was common knowledge that Zexion was straight, and they waited to see what would happen. The slate-haired youth pulled a face and rolled his aquamarine eyes as Demyx leaned closer, slowly sliding his hand up Zexion's bare arm.

"Pucker up, straight boy!" he said in a loud tone un-befitting the situation, effectively ruining any romantic mood there may have been. Larxene sat off to the side, smirking, and not caring whether or not they kissed, but _where_. The guys laughed, as Zexion turned a bright pink. He looked towards his brother, who had passed out and had fallen asleep on Marluxia's lap, and, seeing that he would have no help, made the Time-Out sign, stopping every movement from the circle.

Quickly, he crawled over to the moderately sober Naminé, and whispered into her ear. Everyone strained their own ears as they tried to catch what he said to her, but she just giggled and reached into her canvas tote bag to take out a notebook and a pencil.

In no less than two minutes, she drew Zexion's face perfectly and handed the sketch over to him. Demyx watched with confused eyes, but then the slate-head made the signal for Time In, and handed the paper to the mullet-hawked youth.

"Here," he said. "Kiss _that _if you must." Demyx shrugged, took the paper, and proceeded to kiss the picture quite suggestively, but then makes a face.

"Yuck. Paper tastes so _gross_."

Everyone laughed at his remark, as Axel's, Roxas's, Vanitas's, and Kairi's face fell as they realized the loophole Zexion had exploited.

"Don't worry," Vanitas assured Naminé. Axel grinned.

"We'll get them yet!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yuck, I had to rush. It's already tomorrow, and I have school! D: **

**But special thanks to WeDidItForTheDead, Hope Eternal, and Obsidian Rush. I have no idea who else reads these stories! Review? Tell me it sucked if it did. It did, didn't it? xD Until tomorrow! (wait, no. Tonight!)  
><strong>


	9. Bunk Beds and Burned Rooms

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Nine**

**Title: **The Burning of the Room, and What Happened After

**Genre: **Humour, Friendship

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**You're cute. But. The answer's still no. _Good night._

**A/N: **I really should update my other stories, but so much to do, so little time! D: Title didn't fit, so that's why it's different ^^;

* * *

><p>Zexion closed his bedroom door quietly as he passed through, furious and exasperated, not to mention exhausted. As much as he wanted to slam his door shut, he would not dare to for two reasons: his door might break, and Larxene was sleeping, and she was just as fed up as he was. Besides, it would be the immature thing to do.<p>

As the slate-haired junior slid onto the large quilt on his bed, he kicked off his shoes and placed them neatly on the wooden floor, before calmly picking up his pillow and pressing it lightly to his face.

Inside, he screamed.

Muffled to the world though it was, his cry of frustration seemed loud enough to awaken even the legendary sleeping Monstro to his own pale ears. Into it he poured all of his grievances, annoyance, and emotion, and finally, when it seemed that he would asphyxiate himself from the combined factors of screaming into a pillow and blocking his oxygen supply, he stopped.

He calmly took the cover off the pillow, and replaced his cushion back down onto his bed, as though the past few minutes had not happened. He then moved his position so that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and threw his pillowcase cleanly into the hamper, not even touching the rim as it hit the basket.

"Score."

His dull mutter hung in the air awkwardly as he flopped down again, with his arms outstretched, and breathed a deep sigh.

_I really should stop that habit_, he thought; _but it's such an effective way to cope... and besides, old habits die hard. _

He felt much better now, and lay on the bed with emotionless indifference and stared unseeingly at the bottom of the top bunk. It felt nice, almost, to be gracefully splayed on his bed and feel all of the tension flowing out of him, from the tips of his fingertips and the toes of his feet, with no pressing worries, no studying, no cooking, and no Wave Gigs music playing at all.

Perhaps the one thing that could make this nicer was a soft background of a classical CD playing, maybe Mozart or Beethoven.

There was a knock on the door.

Zexion lifted his head tiredly, the tips of the back of his slate hair _just _resting on the pillow.

"You may enter," he said quietly, and lowered his head back down, watching the door with his peripheral vision.

It was Naminé. She opened the door silently, somehow managing to keep it from creaking, and walked in timidly, hesitantly.

"Are you... alright?" she asked softly, walking over to his bed. Zexion, with some effort, drew himself up and sat cross-legged once again, and stared up into the young blonde's beautiful, clear, worried eyes.

"Of course I'm all right," he said, but his eyes hardened ever-so-slightly. "Nothing's happened, except Axel burned down his bedroom after letting his curtains catch on fire, and us left with a charred, empty space two doors over, and does he have _any _idea how much munny repairs cost, munny we don't have?" He took a deep breath and calmed himself before he got too far gone, and looked away, shielding his face with his messy, layered bangs. His eyebrows, which were slanted down and usually furrowed naturally, grew even more so, as he redirected his aggravation at the wall, imagining boring holes into the thin barrier.

Naminé looked at him sympathetically and reached over with a pale hand to his shoulder, rubbing it somewhat awkwardly.

"Well, I've got something to add to your list," she said grimly. "You're getting a roommate."

Zexion was floored.

* * *

><p>Demyx stood around awkwardly as Zexion paced back and forth, ten steps forward, ten steps backward, not unlike a mental hospital patient, as Axel, Saïx, and Naminé argued somewhat loudly in the living room.<p>

_Poor mental patients... their rooms are so small, walk eleven steps and you'd hit the wall..._

Zexion quit his pacing and turned to sit down in the purple, overstuffed armchair and leaned his face on his hand, crossing his legs as he stared blankly (with an expression of disgruntlement and irritation on his beautiful face) into nothingness. Suddenly, Demyx's ears tuned in to the argument clearer as the trio's voices rose slightly in volume.

"Axel, _we have no choice_. D'you think we _wanted _this to happen?"

"Hey! D'you think _I _did?"

"_Both _of you, stop––"

"We have such a small apartment, Axel!" Naminé sighed exasperatedly, lightly resting the back of her palm on her forehead, and briefly closed her eyes. "Saïx and Vanitas sleep downstairs, so there's barely any room for them there! My art studio has _tons _of paintings, drawings, and supplies up there; I can barely fit in Aqua, let alone Tifa. Kairi and Xion aren't going to share, and Larxene's got Marluxia!"

"Yes, I _know_, thanks! And I also know that Reno was gonna bunk with Rude, Cloud, and Terra in Sora's room, with the bros and us in _our _room, but it _wasn't on purpose _that those damn curtains got on fire!"

"_I'm not saying it is_, but––"

"Naminé. Just tell the sisters to share."

"Saïx, you came late, so I forgive you, but most everyone knows that _Kairi doesn't like to share_. Not to mention her godfather is paying half of our bills." Saïx shrugged.

"So drug her. Persuade her. Bribe her. I'm sure they could fit Tifa in their room."

Demyx fidgeted nervously and spoke up before either Axel or Naminé could retaliate.

"If it would help... I could sleep in the den," he said hesitantly. Zexion cast him a sideways, aquamarine glance.

"On what? The sofa? You _hate _sleeping on that sofa; you'd be up all night," he stated matter-of-factly.

The four stared at Zexion, who had spoken for the first time in hours. He shrugged and shut his mouth again, seemingly brooding on what was to happen.

The others were silent. Naminé tapped her chin, deep in thought, and Axel hugged himself. Saïx sighed and shook his head.

"Here's what we'll do. Zexion, your room has an extra bunk, so Demyx can go sleep there. Tifa _will _sleep in the Hikaris' room, and Aqua will sleep next to Naminé. Larxene, Marluxia, Terra, and Cloud will sleep in Larxene's room, and we'll string up a curtain to separate the room in half, as well as move her bed to make room. Axel will sleep with Sora and Roxas in _their _room, and Reno and Rude can sleep in the den. I will sleep on the couch, and Vanitas... well, he will sleep wherever he wants to. Maybe in his car after he's taken out that ludicrous dummy." Saïx sighed again and rubbed his temples.

"Does this work out?" He seemed worn out from all of the discussion, and crossed his arms tiredly.

Zexion stared first at Saïx, then at Demyx, then at the ceiling, and sighed, before standing up and leaving the room.

There would be no arguing the point. And besides, once the six left after the holidays were over, then he could shunt the musician to a different room and regain solitude in his own, personal space once again.

* * *

><p>Sora and Roxas peered from the crack between the door and doorframe as Zexion silently, furiously, walked up the stairs with an air of wounded dignity.<p>

"Zexy, are you okay?"

"How are you feeling?" The asked their questions at the same time, slightly starting the slate-haired junior. He stopped and turned around to face them, an expression of resignation on his face.

"Peaches and cream, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Why?" Sora made a face at the jibe, but Roxas ignored it.

"You seemed pretty ticked about sharing your room with Demyx."

"Everyone heard the argument. I dunno about the girls, though."

_You two are the only ones on this floor_, Zexion thought with a mental hmph.

"I happen to enjoy my personal space, thank you. At least your new roommate doesn't particularly like Wave Gigs all that much."

"Wait, doesn't he have a crush on y––" Roxas clapped a hand over Sora's mouth.

"Yeah, I heard about that too, but I think Yuna's a year younger than him, and her music's not all that great. He'll choose Wave Gigs over Gullwings any day." He smiled at Zexion, who looked at him strangely, before shaking his head.

"Was there any question of that in the first place?" Roxas kept his hand on Sora's mouth and the smile on his face until Zexion disappeared into his room, down the hall, and closed the door.

As soon as wood met frame, the blond pulled his younger brother into their own room and closed the door.

"Zexion _doesn't know_," he whispered. "Don't tell him until Demyx does, okay?"

Sora nodded as his brother released his mouth.

"Sure, but... then where's the point?"

Roxas shook his head and crawled underneath his own covers, as though claiming them before they were stolen by the notorious redhead.

* * *

><p>Once again, there was a knock upon Zexion's door.<p>

The studious male looked up from his laptop and walked over to the door, and upon opening it, saw Demyx standing in the doorway, with a duffel bag in one hand and his large, blue sitar in the other.

"Hey!" the blond greeted cheerfully, but with a tone of anxiety. He nervously looked around the sparsely decorated room and fidgeted. The slate-haired junior raised an eyebrow.

"You managed to save those?" he asked. The sitar looked quite bulky. Demyx shook his head.

"I left these in the den a while ago. I was playin' the _guitar, _which got crisped. Can I come in?"

Zexion shrugged and politely opened the door further. The glowing screen of the white laptop immediately caught Demyx's attention, and he walked over to it, glancing at it.

"What's––?" But Zexion was over there in a flash, and quickly shut the lid before Demyx could read what had been written.

The blond gave him a tiny smirk.

"Why was my name in there?" he asked in a teasing tone. Zexion huffed and placed his laptop under his pillow, and pointed at his bed.

"That's my own personal space. Enter it and I'll make you cry. The laptop is not to be touched at all times. Books," he pointed to the shelves next to the desk, "are also for you to read, as long as you don't destroy them. Any questions?"

Demyx shook his head, but then lifted his right index finger.

"Top bunk's mine, right?"

Zexion's glare replied.

_What do you think? _

Demyx grinned and slung his bag and instrument onto the top mattress, and walked over to the bookcase. After a few minutes of staring at the covers, he picked out _Alice in Wonderland _and sat against the wall, and began reading the well-worn book.

Zexion watched with surprise, but smiled at the irony.

He didn't know Demyx liked to read.

* * *

><p>The slate-haired youth was interrupted in his reading when he heard a strange, unfamiliar sound, one that seemed like plastic, glass, and metal were clinking softly against each other.<p>

He looked up from his bed and saw Demyx installing a night light in his socket.  
>"<em>What <em>are you doing?" Demyx, startled by the sudden voice jumped.

"Aah! Oh! Um, yeah. Plugging in my... nocturnal, light-up, inanimate companion. I thought you were reading?"

"I was. Emphasis on 'were'. Why?" Demyx shifted uncomfortably.

"I, er... dislike... sleeping in the dark." The blond's voice grew smaller and smaller, until he only managed a bashful smile.

_Aren't you a little old for that...?_

But Zexion said nothing, and merely bade Demyx goodnight as the clock chimed ten; he reckoned it would most likely not keep him awake at night.

He was wrong.

It was eleven o'clock pm, and no matter what, the bright blue light was interfering with his sleep pattern. His sensitive eyes were irritated, and he contemplated removing the offending light from the socket, but for a moment only.

He acted on it quicker than that.

Demyx did not stir when the light popped from the outlet; Zexion breathed a sigh of relief. He placed the object on his desk gently and crawled back into bed, and drifted to sleep in the complete darkness.

No less than twenty minutes later, Demyx awoke, and, startled and frightened at being in complete darkness, crawled down to Zexion's bunk and sat on the bed.

The slate-haired youth groaned at the sudden indentation on the side of his mattress.

"You're no less than fifty centimeters in my space. Get out."

"Can I cuddle with you?" Zexion's left eyelid cracked open sleepily from shock.

"_What?_"

Though it was completely dark, years of training and adjustments had given Zexion the ability to see in dense darkness, and Demyx was currently wearing loose, blue pajamas, and the most adorable pleading face he had ever seen.

Not that it worked on him.

Demyx began inching closer, but Zexion groaned again and groped for the second pillow beneath the one he lay on, and smacked the blond with it, knocking him to the close floor.

"You're cute. But no. _Good night._"

The slatenette then flipped over, curled up into a tight ball under his warm covers, and promptly fell into a deep dreamless sleep, ignoring the stunned boy on the floor, who was shocked not only from the sudden impact, but also that Zexion had just complimented him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry WeDidItForTheDead, the answer is NOT Ansem/Xemnas. Anyone else? :D review please! I really do like seeing how well I'm doing.  
><strong>


	10. Moral Of Our Story

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Ten**

**Title: **The Moral of Our Story

**Genre: **Humour, Friendship

**Rating: **K+

**Summary:**_ Maybe we should get him safety scissors. Y'know, for kids. _

**A/N: **Thank you, Obsidian Rush, for flooding my inbox. Lol. OH! And yeah you got it right. It was Ansem/Xehanort, not Xemnas, WeDidItForTheDead. Sorry! **ALSO! **Gullwings and Wave Gigs are not real bands or singing groups, at least, not that I know of. They were made up for the purpose of this story collection, with the Gullwings being the trio of girls Yuna, Rikku, and Paine turned into a singing group like AKB48 (gosh I dislike them!), and Wave Gigs being Demyx's limit break turned into a band. Okay? :)

* * *

><p>A week had passed since the fire incident, and the holidays were finally over. Reno and Cloud Strife had stayed behind after everyone else (Tifa, Rude, Terra, and Aqua) had left, and offered to help finish fixing up the ruined, burned bedroom, with Reno feeling responsible for his reckless, borderline-pyromania brother, and Cloud having nothing better to do than to go back to the Autoshop.<p>

For the extra help, Zexion was quite thankful.

Everyone had pitched in, helping out, even if it was in the tiniest way (such as Vanitas, who had no interest whatsoever and only crashed when he had to, who carried the roll of wallpaper to Marluxia), and soon the room was almost as good as new.

Reno and Cloud replaced the floor, as it was unsafe to walk on, and added blinds instead of curtains to the window.

Time passed very quickly for the working group, and even Aerith and Leon had stopped by with picnic baskets stuffed with food to feed the hard workers.

It took three days of hard work and using up sick days for college and work (Kairi and Xion were forced to go to high school by Larxene, but Naminé got to stay behind because she was helping Aerith cook and clean), but at last, the room was done, refurbished, renewed, and curtain-less.

* * *

><p>Zexion sighed at his desk, once again studying for his university, when suddenly there was a loud clatter from downstairs, sounding very much like furniture crashing together. Slightly alarmed, Zexion turned around in his chair and stared out the open door, but nothing extraordinary happened.<p>

A fly buzzed through the air and landed on the slate-haired youth's nose. Zexion impatiently brushed it off and turned back around again, and continued to do work.

There was another large noise, accompanied this time by the thumping of socked feet running down the stairs.

Zexion had very sensitive senses, and judging by the faint wisp of a scent of the Cinnamon Beach shampoo reaching his nose, it was Demyx who was causing such a racket.

He leaned back and looked outside the door again, and this time, saw the mullet-hawked young man dash past, holding something that looked suspiciously like a pair of scissors.

"Demyx!" he called out, his voice barely laced with concern. "You shouldn't run with sci––"

There was a huge crash and a yelp, compelling Zexion to jump out of his chair and run to the door. Moving swiftly through the narrow hallway, he stopped at the top of the stairs, where he saw Demyx sprawled out on the first floor, grinning weakly and like a fool, with a definite pair of scissors clutched in his right hand.

Zexion sighed.

"I told you..."

Naminé quickly rushed to Demyx's side, and knelt by him.

"Are you alright? You could have critically injured yourself!" Demyx smiled.

"Don't..." he winced slightly, "worry about me, Naminé! I'm..." he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, "fine."

Zexion rolled his eyes and began walking down the stairs with irked, deliberate steps.

"How about we buy you a pair of children's scissors, so that the next time you decide to disregard my advice and crash down the stairs, you don't accidentally impale yourself with stainless steel?"

Naminé, Roxas, Sora, and Xion laughed softly at Zexion's somewhat cruel remark.

Demyx quite childishly stuck his tongue out at him.

"Whatever. It was fun, though," he retorted.

"Maybe for _you_. Your idea of fun is ludicrous, Demyx. Still, gut yourself if you want." Demyx rolled his eyes as well and struggled to get up as Zexion placed a single foot on the small of his back.

"_So _nice to know you care about me," he replied. "Get off. You're so heavy."

There was no mistake of a smile in Demyx's voice.

"Yes, _Your Highness_," said Zexion smoothly, as he removed his foot and strode back upstairs.

Axel walked up and popped open a can of soda.

"You two fight over the silliest things."

Demyx gave the old wooden staircase a wistful smile.

"Yepp. We do."

* * *

><p><strong>Moral: You can use an idiot, and you can use a scissors, but you can't let an idiot run with scissors.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Short, and not my best work. Sorry guys.**

**Obsidian Rush! Thanks for the reviews, d'you want a story in return? :D **

**WeDidItForTheDead: No, I don't get tired of it. Each and every review makes me so happy! Thank yo so much!**

**Everyone else, thanks for reading! Four more days!**

**Review? Pretty please and thanks!  
><strong>


	11. AutoRepairShopTurnedBaseFort

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Eleven**

**Title: **Auto Repair-turned-Base Fort

**Genre: **Humour

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**_ Because why not hide in there? No chick would look _there.

**A/N: **Blah. Last chapter was a disappointment, so sorry guys. And I won't rewrite it, since it just was too awkward for me to dish out in the first place. Oh well, please enjoy this newest installment of the Anti-Zemyx! We're getting soooo close!

* * *

><p>Zexion sighed as he opened the door and entered the large, spacious, and yet cluttered garage, and dropped his bag down gently onto his own, personal, oil-stained chair by the workbench. His classes had finished for the day, and he had decided to come early to his part-time job.<p>

Quite soon after, the slate-haired youth's boss, Cid Highwind walked into the auto-repair shop, wiping his slightly gnarled hands on an oily, gray rag. He had a toothpick in his mouth, and was muttering to himself thoughtfully about customers and appointments, when he looked up and noticed the student standing a little ways in front of him.

"Hnh. You're here early," he said gruffly, but with a friendly shine to his blue eyes. Zexion shrugged, and picked at the old, torn, once-white t-shirt he was wearing glumly.

"School let out early, and I have nothing else to do." Cid, who had began rummaging around on the cluttered workbench, looked up at him again as he searched for a wrench.

"Heard Axel burned that room down. How's it now?" Zexion shrugged again.

"We fixed it. Reno took Axel's lighter collection and taped the lid shut." He smirked slightly at the memory. "Demyx tried to impale himself with scissors the other night as well, but by accident. We decided to separate them. So now Demyx sleeps with Sora, and Axel sleeps with Roxas."

Cid flicked an amused expression Zexion's way. The junior went white and covered his face with his hands and shook his head.

"That sounds _so _wrong. My mistake. I had not meant that; I simply meant that Sora and Demyx were sharing a room, and Roxas and Axel were sharing a room as well. Though now that I think on it, it may have been wiser to pair Roxas with Demyx..." Cid's grin didn't falter, and Zexion sighed and looked away and to the side in slight embarrassment.

"That aside, what clients will be coming in today, and which cars are we fixing?" Cid laughed at the change of subject, a short bark of amusement, and went to the wall next to the door and removed a clipboard with many papers from its hook.

"Auron's stopping by to pick up his pick up––" he snickered for a moment; "––and Rai's comin' by to get Fuu's limo for that one concert downtown... Seagulls or something? That one chick group that your friend's sister likes."

"_Gullwings_," Zexion said with a curl of his lip, smirking. "Kairi would have _loved _to see that. Too bad," he said, with no sense of regret whatsoever. If Kairi even got so much as a whisper of a rumour that Yuna's chauffeur had stopped by Zexion's job... He shuddered. It was not worth ruining a perfectly good day by thinking about it.

"...and also, Setzer's going to drop by this afternoon with his limo. That makes eight clients... The engine's died, and won't start back up, so he wants us to take a look."

"Has he considered refilling his gas tank?" Zexion asked dryly, examining the papers Cid handed him. The blond man laughed.

"I wouldn't know. He does seem the type to overlook that. Enough chit-chat. Come on over to the back, kiddo, we need to start working."

Zexion wrinkled his nose at 'kiddo', but nodded and walked over through the open door and into the actual car repair garage. Several vehicles were parked here and there, with some on platforms and others with parts missing. One truck, a sea-foam green one, had a large dent in the side, as though it was used as a prop for a movie and was crashed into once. The slate-haired youth followed his boss through the maze of metal, his rolled up second-hand jeans dragging slightly (they were so big, he had to tighten the belt so that they wouldn't fall off, but even so, he had to hitch them up every now and then when they felt like they were slipping down), as they approached a flame-red monster truck, with the engine gone and a wheel missing.

"Oy! Zack! Howzit going?" called out Cid as they stood before the enormous vehicle.

Zexion saw a family of mice skitter about between the wheels.

A teen with a shock of midnight blue hair, almost black, popped up from the driver's seat, and waved at the two of them.

"She'll be done in maybe a week, Boss. I need more parts!" He grinned at the young man.

"Hey, Zex! Heard what Axel did." He gave a cheeky smile.

"You and the rest of the world," muttered Zexion under his breath. As Cid talked to Zack about the supplies and orders, as well as Auron's truck, the slatehead walked over to the large wheels of the truck and crouched down, holding out his hand to the scuttling mice.

"Shh, hey, it's okay," he whispered, as he held out his hand to the small creatures. All skittered away, save one, which tentatively drew closer, then climbed into his hand. Zexion smiled as he gently stroked its fur with two fingers. Though mice were usually looked down upon, they kept him company at the ancient Library he often visited.

"Oy! Zex, let's get to work!" boomed out Cid's voice, startling Zexion, who whirled around. The mouse jumped off his hand and scurried away to its family; Zexion gave it a sad, fond half-smile before turning to the blond and wiping all emotion from his face, leaving nothing but a faint smirk.

"Of course... boss."

Cid led his assistant to a bright purple car and pulled out a skateboard with his foot.

"Here. Some vandal knifed it, so you'll need to replace whatever's cut." Zexion nodded and lowered himself down onto the skateboard and slid underneath the raised car, to look at the damage done.

It wasn't too extensive: it could take him maybe a day to fix it all.

He slid out and took out a wrench from the tool box to the side, and began working on the car when the door opened.

A tall man, wearing a dark jacket and black slacks, paired with a lilac shirt and boots, strode in with confident steps, the heels of his boots clicking on the floor like beetles. His purple sash, tied about his waist, and long jacket, resting on his shoulders, fluttered slightly with his quick steps.

Even without looking at the man, Zexion could tell that it was none other than Setzer Gabbiani by the scent of his perfume. It was almost nauseating. Girls seemed to like it.

With a hair-flip of silver tresses, the man smiled and greeted Cid, who had stopped working on a large, oddly modified motorcycle with a combination of polished black metal over brushed gold mechanics, in order to greet him back.

Zexion ignored their conversation and resumed working, determined to fix the car so he could work on the limo. He got halfway done when Cid rolled him out and smiled roughly at him.

"The engine's got somethin' stuck in it. He _did _think about the gas, though." Zexion smirked, and got up, brushing his grease-stained, holey shirt and grimy jeans off, as well as wiping his hands on the gray rag Cid had earlier, and walked away for a drink from the water bottle in his bag.

He took a quick swig and was just spinning the cap back on when suddenly, the door burst open and a _very _familiar blond man with a blue sitar in hand stumbled through, slamming the door behind him.

Zexion and Cid stared at the intruding Demyx, silent with stunned surprise at the sudden entrance, when Demyx noticed Zexion standing off to the side and waved frantically at him, smiling nervously.

"Hey! Zexion! Look, I really need this favour..."

"What on _Earth _do you think you're doing, making such a racket?"

Green eyes met aqua ones as Zexion folded his arms across his oil-stained shirt and glared at the musician. Demyx's eyes darted to the door.

"I need help!" he whispered urgently. "I was at a rave and the punch was spiked and now all these girls––"

As if on cue, several girls, no less than ten, walked into the shop, giggling coyly behind their hands and fluttering their eyelashes. Demyx dropped down behind the workbench and curled his lithe body up, hiding any and all traces of him, but he forgot the sitar.

One of the girls walked up to Zexion, who stood stiffly with a hostile light in his eyes, and smiled at him.

"Hey, handsome," she said with a drunken smile. "You got any plans for tonight?" Zexion glared at her.

"Regrettably, yes. Do you have a car you'd like us to repair for you?"

Her grin widened.

_Like a redcap_, thought the junior. She shook her head.

"Nope!" Dissolving into a fit of giggles along with her friends, she glanced up at him through thick mascara. "We were looking for a guy named Demyx, but you're _much _cuter... Your place or mine?" She winked and trailed a manicured hand down his chest. Cid began trying to usher the twittering girls out while Zexion prepared to get rid of the pest.

"Both. You'll go to yours, and I'll go back to mine once I'm sure no-one's stalking me. My girlfriend would get pretty upset if she found out I was being harassed." His eyes narrowed, and a dark vibe began pulsating off of him.

Drunk and high though she was, the girl knew not to trespass in another chick's territory, and immediately (though regretfully) backed off.

"Oh." Her glossy lips pursed. "Too bad. _So _sad. Well, there are others cute than you anyways." She gave him a flirty smile and flicked his nose before sashaying out of the shop with her friends.

Cid shut the door and leaned against the wood, sighing, before giving Demyx an _explain-yourself-or-else _type of look. Demyx sighed, hugged Zexion briefly in thanks, and thanked God that the highs could not recognize his sitar. He took a deep breath.

"Well, I was at this rave, singing and playing, ya know? And then the girls start screaming and the punch was spiked, so they all got drunk _on top of _being high as a kite, and then they chased after me." Zexion smirked, though feeling sorry for his... friend.

"Hot item?" he asked. Demyx rolled his head back and shook his head tiredly.

"Exhausted item. Girls like those are the reason I'm bi."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Blah. I'm tired and stressed. This chapter wasn't planned: it was just a spur of the moment. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Didja see the Strife reference? xD Reviews are the chocolates to my chips!  
><strong>


	12. Room Numbers Six and Nine

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Twelve**

**Title: **Room Numbers Six and Nine

**Genre: **Humour, Romance (?), Suspense, Horror ?

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**_ Day Twelve. Two ranks. Four friends. Six Rooms. And nine shades redder. _

**A/N: _Ever spend a night in a haunted house? _**Two more days! After this is done, I'm going to update Hellfire Seas and SMFTP, and maybe Twilight Bridge, but boy do I need a break! One week hiatus comin' right up! Enjoy~

* * *

><p>It was another week-long break from Ansem University, and everyone had decided to go their separate ways during the holiday. Kairi and Xion were going to stay with their godfather, Xemnas, at his city penthouse; Vanitas was going to visit his parents, as well as bring them some money to pay their health bills, and bring his uncannily similar mannequin along for the ride; Saïx was planning to spend some time 'working' out of town (no doubt an order from Xemnas; he was as loyal as a puppy to his boss and was in the know for all of the Cardiac Research Center's President's elaborate schemes); and Marluxia and Larxene were planning to spend some 'alone' time at Topside, the wealthiest and flashiest part of the city, as well as visit the famous, blitzy Gambler's Ace cantina, owned by Luxord Fate, and gamble (as well as <em>win<em>) large amounts of money at the betting parlor/arcade, through partially questionable means.

The remaining six, Naminé, Roxas, Sora, Demyx, Zexion, and Axel, had decided to stay at Naminé's house on the outskirts of town, a large, white mansion, split into two parts and connected by a short 'tunnel', and surrounded by acres of grassy land; with the boys occupying one half, and Naminé working on her paintings and drawings in the other, sleeping wherever the hell she felt like once done for the day. After talking out their plans with everyone, packing, and going over financial matters for the fourth time that week, the entire 'household' was ready. Aerith bade them all an especially fond farewell (whereas Larxene's was utterly sarcastic) as she waved at the leaving cars and promised to take care of the three-story apartment while they were gone.

Because of the city's sheer size, it took the six three hours to even catch sight of the lone building, which was much too far away from school and far too lonely and quiet for Naminé's modest tastes, to live in for more than a month.

After the three hours needed to get there (and then some), Axel drove up the gravel circle and parked his red truck in front of the Victorian porch, and honked the horn _very _loudly to wake up the sleeping boys in the back, grinning as they jumped and glared at him with sleepy eyes.

"Yo. We're here."

* * *

><p>A bleary-eyed, half-asleep Demyx shuffled to the trunk of the pickup to help Roxas unload, and groaned as he leaned his face and arms against the cool metal.<p>

"Whatimeizzit?" Roxas glanced at the silver watch Marluxia had given to him for his last birthday.

"Seven past eight. Why are you so tired?" Demyx emitted a sound halfway between a groan and a laugh.

"Stayed up til three."

"What the _hell _were you doing until three?" asked Roxas with big eyes, as he unloaded Sora's bulky, heavy suitcase from the truck. Demyx grinned and woke up a little more.

"M'was playin' _World That Never Was _online."

"Again." Demyx nodded, and sheepishly smiled.

"Again." Roxas rolled his eyes and thrust Sora's bag at the musician.

"Here. You can carry this in. It'll help wake you up." Demyx _oof_-ed at the sudden weight, but obliged and carried the bulky bag up to the steps, where Naminé was in the process of twisting the key into the lock. After a few tries, it _click_-ed and opened creakily, and the young blonde pushed the white door open further, to allow Demyx in.

There was only a thin layer of dust on the floor, as Naminé had just visited two months ago, and the lights burned brightly still the moment the switch was flipped. Demyx made two trips, hauling in the numerous bags of luggage (as they weren't sure if Naminé's washing machine worked or not), as did Zexion and Roxas, only Zexion was carrying stacks of boxes in his arms, and Roxas was hunched over, carrying sleeping bags on his back.

They looked quite ridiculous.

Naminé clapped happily as all of the moving was done, and led them upstairs to the second floor, leaving the boys to carry their own luggage with them (as well as hers).

There were ten doors on the second landing, all along a long, carpeted hallway, with six of them adorned with a gold numeral attached to the door, shining brightly against the chipped white paint.

_One, two, three, six, eight, and nine._

There were shadows of numbers on the other ones, where one could assume that once there hung a golden numeral, too. The blonde girl began walking down the corridor, her pale reflection flitting past the many mirrors hanging on the walls between each door, and examining the knobs. She turned around.

"Some," she said, gesturing with her hand, "of the doors don't open. They've been stuck closed ever since my grandmother was here, and before she came, they said that there was a _horrible accident_. Something about a massacre of the refuging royal family? Anyway, with shouting mobs and curses and a quite a few deaths, as well as several beheadings and acts of backstabbing. My grandmother said that the ghosts still seek vengeance for the ruin of the family, for their fall from grace. Choose your own rooms," she said, with a mischievous smirk, one so unfamiliar on her face, and yet befitting it in an odd, eerie way. "Sweet dreams!" She winked at the five boys, two of whom had gone pale and stared at her incredulously. With a wave of her hand, she disappeared from the landing and walked back downstairs, giggling softly to herself as she went. The boys looked at each other in silence. Roxas glanced first at Zexion, who was standing there awkwardly, then at his brother Sora.

"...Did you know Naminé could be _quite _so sadistic?" Sora shook his head, and edged closer to Demyx, halfway hiding behind him.

"Nuh-uh. Did you?" Roxas looked around and shook his head.

"Nope. Let's pick our rooms. I'm getting paranoid. Especially with all of these mirrors..." Axel agreed wholeheartedly, and the five began trying to open the doors.

It turned out that only the doors with numbers still on them opened. Sora wondered out loud if that meant that, if, while they were sleeping, their numbers fell off, whether or not they would be able to get out. Zexion immediately knocked on a wooden stand underneath one of the mirrors and shook his head, saying that it was not wise to jinx such things, to which Axel replied with a question of since when was Zexion so superstitious?

Ignoring him, Zexion chose room Six, while Demyx chose Nine, Axel chose Eight, and Sora and Roxas shared One, as it was closest to the stairs. Three remained empty; perhaps it was because of the ugly, dark, and suspiciously gore-like stain underneath the door?

All of the rooms currently occupied were the same: a single, light grey bed in the middle of the room, with the head against the wall, and a dresser to the side. A simple chandelier decorated the ceiling, and the windows were hidden behind white curtains. The simplicity was overwhelming and suspicious, arousing anxiety and paranoia from some of the friends. As Naminé never saw reason to visit the supposedly haunted rooms her grandmother told her about, the furnishings were sparse, though oddly free of dust.

Zexion left his luggage outside of the room when he entered, and examined the mostly empty chamber with detached distrust, touching the surface of the dresser and frowning when he found no dust upon it. Quickly, he left the room and walked downstairs to the kitchen, which was as smart and as clean as when it was newly refurbished, and found Naminé there. She smiled sweetly (_too _sweetly, he noted) as she saw him, and took a sip of her water.

"Yes?" Zexion brushed aside a strand of his metallic slate hair from his face and looked at her evenly.

"Naminé, when was the last time you, or anyone else, entered those rooms?" Naminé frowned slightly.

"Um... maybe the last time I came here? Why, did you find a body?" her voice rose oh-so-slightly with excitement. Zexion smiled and shook his head.

"No. I was just curious. Thank you." Naminé shrugged. "Do you happen to have some salt around?"

She pointed at the white cupboard to his right.

"It's in that big can. No, yeah, that one." Zexion took it down carefully, as though it might break, and nodded his head.

"Thank you. Good night."

"Good night."

She watched his back retreat as she wondered what the salt could _possibly _be for.

* * *

><p>As Zexion entered the room once again, he sprinkled a light dusting of salt upon the floor of the doorway, as well as around the windows and around his bed. Axel, Sora, Roxas, and Demyx watched with mute fascination as he silently repeated the same ritual over for each of their rooms, wondering when on earth did sensible, no-nonsense Zexion, who <em>yawned <em>through NC-17 movies and horror fairs get so superstitious. Sora eventually found his tongue as Zexion finished sprinkling salt around the bed he and his brother would share.

"Er... Zexion, not to be rude, but what're you doing?" Zexion did not look up as he answered.

"The second-floor's east wing is disquieting. I sense something strange and unfamiliar, and do not wish to take any chances. Salt is purifying: we should all be kept safe this night. It may just be that I'm tired and Axel slipped something into my coffee again..." Axel chuckled at this; "but then again, it may not. I also smell a lingering scent of... anger, if anger had a scent, in the air. Sleep well." He then swept out of the room; Sora and Demyx stared in shock after him as he entered room Six. Roxas looked at Axel.

"D'you think he's serious?" The tall redhead gave him a long look, and sighed.

"Must be. He's never been like this before, and if Zex says things will bode ill, then they will indeed bode ill. For whom it is not always certain. Well, I'm off to bed!" he said in a cheerful tone, leaving a puzzled Roxas pondering how a single person could go from dark and grim to cheerful in less than a second. He shrugged, letting the matter drop, and changed from his day-clothes to his green pajamas after closing the door behind him. Once he carefully placed his clothes in his suitcase, he glanced over at Sora, who, having changed while his brother was, was rocking slightly on the bed with his arms around his legs.

"Sora...?" Roxas was nervous: if Sora were to have another attack, while they were three hours from any decent hospital... The brunet looked over at the blond climbing into his bed, and ceased rocking.

"It's too... _white, _here. Too clean. Like something was washed away..." Roxas smiled weakly and hugged his younger brother before crawling under his sleeping bag's blanket, as the beds had nothing but sheets on them.

"Don't worry. Zexion did the whole... salt thing, so we'll be safe, yeah? Go to sleep. I'll be right here."

* * *

><p>Demyx lay in his sleeping bag on his borrowed bed, and fell into a deep sleep from the moment his eyes fluttered closed. It was most likely from the exhaustion of staying awake all day with no coffee, but there could have been another force at work. His eyes rolled beneath their fleshy lids as he began dreaming.<p>

He dreamt that he was walking down the hallway once more, except this time, only room Nine had a number left on it, and blood was seeping from the cracks underneath the doors from each room, each with a different undertone. Room Eight's blood was much too bright to be red, room One's blood was mixed red and gold, and room Six had red tinged with silver and black. Demyx shuddered in the dream, and continued walking down the hallway; but no matter how much he walked, he still remained in the same place. Running had no effect either. Sighing, he looked into one of the mirrors, and gasped at what he saw.

There were four people in the mirror. One, a prince, another, a captain, with the other two just normal people. The prince looked strangely familiar, almost like his own reflection, but it was and wasn't him. There was something in his eyes that deeply unsettled the dreamer. Demyx shook his head and looked at the others.

The captain looked like Zexion, verily so, but the reflection had darker skin, more tanned, and had an athletic air about him. He was confident and outgoing, with an easy smile revealing sharp teeth, and had his hair swept a little more out of his face, so that his aqua eyes could be seen clearer.

No, wait.

The _real _Zexion had aqua eyes. This one had amber ones, flecks of gold in the irises, looking so similar to a reptile's. Behind him, with the same eyes, stood a twisted reflection of Axel, smirking at the dreamer, and before his reflection, stood a twisted mimicry of Roxas.

All of them grinned wickedly at the dreamer, their eyes laughing and smiles kind, not quite hiding their sharp teeth, as they waved at him.

Demyx was riveted to the spot: he couldn't move, couldn't wake himself up; he was trapped until the nightmare decided to release him.

The four friends in the mirror remained there for a minute, with Demyx's reflection standing right where he was, before the scene changed, and revealed a family of six. There was a father, a mother, three sisters, and a young brother, who so uncannily resembled Roxas, but wasn't him. The family smiled and waved cheerfully at Demyx, but then their smiles turned to faces of horror as they stared at Demyx, at something they couldn't see.

_Is this the family that was murdered? _

One by one, they fell, gristly wounds opening themselves on their bodies, cut and shot there with invisible weapons, when at last no one was left except for the frightened, bloody little boy, who had his sister's defensive corpse draped over his shoulders and front. Demyx found himself leaning unconsciously closer and closer to the mirror, as his mouth moved to warn the boy; but try as he might, no sound came out.

The mirror's image changed again, and this time, it was the four friends-who-were-not-friends again, with Axel grinning, eyes milky-white, and rotting, maggoty, skeletal hand reaching through the mirror for Demyx's face.

With a scream, he woke up.

Sweat soaked his sleeping bag, and Demyx saw claw marks scraping themselves onto his leg as he screamed. His throat felt raw. There was a sudden _thump _from above him. Instinctively, he looked up at the faded painting on the wall above the headboard of the bed. There was another _thump_, and the painting fell from its hook, bringing along with it a bloody machete, which fell and fell closer and closer to Demyx's head until––

With a scream, he woke up.

Sweat soaked his sleeping bag, and Demyx looked at his legs once again.

There were no claw marks. He sighed deeply, and wiped away the tears streaming down his face, not even aware that he had been crying.

_A dream within a dream..._

There was a sudden crash, as well as several muffled _thump_s, and Demyx's door burst open, with Zexion and Axel standing in the doorway, pale and concerned, with Axel wearing nothing but black gym shorts and Zexion a holey tee with loose, drawstring pants. Their eyes were wide.

"Demyx...?" The musician stared at his friends blankly, with all of his emotions quivering behind his mask of vacant expression.

"Did you..." Fear began seeping through the filter. "Did you see... the dream? With the mirror and the burning and the blood?"

_Hang on. Burning? What burning? _

Zexion shook his head, and Axel walked over to the younger student, feeling his forehead for a temperature.

"...Demyx, did you see a nightmare?" The redhead's usually casual manner was discarded: gentle concern remained. Demyx neither nodded or shook his head.

"I..." He glanced up at the painting above his headboard. It seemed glued to the wall. He swallowed, hard. "I saw... the family... get murdered... and the mirror... it showed... showed..."

Demyx could say no more, his mind was already trying to create a memory block against what he had seen. Axel shh-ed soothingly and hugged the traumatized youth, patting his back awkwardly. Zexion remained in the doorway.

_This place... is there asbestos in the walls? _

"Demyx. You may sleep in my room tonight, if you feel you will see these dreams again. That way, I can keep an eye on you, or, if you like, we can move to Naminé's side of the house. The side that was added on fifty years later and _is not haunted_." Demyx nodded, still within Axel's embrace. "I suggest you go down to the kitchen with Axel and drink some hot chocolate to calm yourself. It's almost dawn. Maybe you should sleep on the sofas." Demyx nodded again, but barely believed his ears when Zexion uttered those words.

_Dawn? It's so dark! Even with the walls this white..._

* * *

><p>The morning brought with it a cheerful sky, clean air, and the smell of bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen directly below, courtesy of the blonde artist. With the sunlight, everything seemed less scarier, and everyone blamed their exhaustion and anxiety for the scare. Roxas and Sora had slept like rocks (something that mildly irritatedworried Zexion when he heard that), but had no strange dreams, which only seemed to affect Demyx. As they sat down for breakfast, Zexion slipped in Demyx's dream to Naminé as she served the bacon. She cast an amused, innocent eye in his direction.

"Oh, so they're real?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Naminé laughed.

"Of course I knew! I just never _believed _it. There's a difference between knowing and believing. I never saw them, just heard their whispers sometimes. But don't worry. They have no reason to kill you." Demyx squeaked and coughed into his eggs. Sora smiled.

"Yeah! Don't worry! We'll all be there for you!"

He looked so innocent, it was hard to say no.

After breakfast, Zexion asked Naminé if they could move their rooms, but Naminé said no.

"Once you've picked the room, you have to stay there until you leave. It's the rules."

"We don't _need _that rule, Naminé! Demyx needs his sleep, preferably uninterrupted by your silly rules." Naminé looked up, shocked.

"I didn't make the rules up."

* * *

><p>The day passed quickly, with the group playing board games and horseback riding through the fields of a stable a half-hour away, and pretty soon, everyone forgot the previous night's horror from the light atmosphere. After a particularly enjoyable dinner (with steak, salad, and mashed potatoes, as well as a side of Roxas's jokes and Sora's silly questions), Zexion graciously allowed Demyx to sleep in his room, even helping him move his bags, but halfheartedly regretted it when Demyx got his flirt back on.<p>

"Hey, Zexion?" he asked, casually but grinning as he did so. Zexion turned the page in his book.

"Yes, Demyx, what is it?"

"You know, our room numbers together make up 69..." Demyx snickered. Zexion froze, and went from pale, to faintly pink, and went through eight other shades of pink and red before he threw his pillow at the blond.

"That's disgusting. I'm straight and you know it." It could have been wishful thinking, but Demyx could have sworn he heard hesitation in his voice. "You're an idiot, Demyx." Slapping a hand to his heart, Demyx feigned a fatal wound as he protested.

"Hey! Now that's just plain rude!" Zexion resumed reading his book, but finished the paragraph and bookmarked the page.

"And your innuendo was just plain sickening," he replied. Taking a deep breath, he shouted out, "AXEL!"

From the next room over, Axel shouted back.

"WHAT?"

"I WILL BE SPENDING THE NIGHT WITH NAMINÉ! Take care of Demyx while I'm gone!"

"...SURE!" Over the shouting, Demyx smiled as he heard the distinct music of _World That Never Was _playing on Axel's laptop, but faltered slightly when he saw Zexion gather up a few belongings and look down at him.

"Good night, Demyx. May your _dreams _exclude me from committing any actions that would further my humiliation should I know of them." He left the room, but Demyx glimpsed the small smile twitching on his lips. He sighed and took out his blue cellphone, dialing 13 on his number pad. The phone rang twice.

"Hello?"

"Roxas?"

"Yeah? Who else?"

"...So much for your idea. It didn't work." The idea had seemed foolproof at dinner: frighten the ghosts away by spending the night together, as well as get some fun out of it.

"Aw. Too bad." said the smaller blond. Demyx shrugged.

"We can try something else later." A grin spread on his face, plotting and yet innocent. Roxas nodded on his end of the phone, before he realized something.

"Yeah... Wait where are you?"

"In the bedroom, why?"

"...You do realize that I'm in the SAME HOUSE as you, right? You couldn't come down to the kitchen? It's like, what, two minutes away."

"I felt lazy." And it was true. Demyx lay on Zexion's bed, sprawled out on the white sheets, and stretched like a cat. Roxas grinned.

"...Not surprising."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I rushed, I apologize! But I'm dead tired. **

**OH. Do not, EVER write a horror story _in the freaking dark_. Oh my GAWSH. It was so scary! All these sudden noises, and it was silent before my parents came home and I freaking _Jumped_. Lol But I hope you enjoyed! Thanks! Reviews please?  
><strong>


	13. Practical Jokers

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Thirteen**

**Title: **Practical Jokers

**Genre: **Humour, Friendship

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**_ Sunday is a day for pranks..._

**A/N: **Wooo! This is my favourite one yet! Obsidian Rush, do you like it? **Each prank has a connection to the last and next. Whoever can find ALL connections gets a special prize! **Oh gosh, there's a _lot _of symbolism and references~!

* * *

><p>Sunday was a day for pranks. The early morning sun rose sleepily up into the sky, tinting the slowly drifting clouds with rays of pink and yellow, as the world drowsily woke up to the Sabbath day. It was six o'clock, and the only people awake in the House were Naminé, Axel, and Sora.<p>

The three were busy cooking stacks upon stacks of pancakes and waffles for the rest of the family, with different flavours and ingredients, such as strawberry, blueberry, wheat, white, chocolate, and mixed, with Axel and Sora quietly giggling to themselves and Naminé popping a blueberry into her mouth every once in a while, glancing at the Mickey Mouse clock and wondering when everyone else would wake up.

Surprisingly that day, Zexion was the last to rise from bed. Marluxia, Saïx, and Larxene had already gone to work (regardless of the fact that it was a _Sunday_), and Xion and Vanitas were going to an amusement park to spend the day, using some of the money Marluxia and Larxene had won in Luxord's cantina. Everyone else who had stayed behind at the house wondered to themselves as their slate-haired family member remained in bed long after everyone had awoken if he was sick, or had a fever.

In the second-floor corridor, the air smelled foul, with a sting to the smell. Zexion's sensitive nose twitched as the horrid scent rudely dragged him from his peaceful sleep, shattering the dream into a thousand light pieces and wiping it from his memory. The slate-haired junior's eyes fluttered open, and he sat up to yawn and stretch, when the full intensity of the smell hit him like a runaway train, and he coughed mid-yawn.

"What on _earth..._?" His bedroom door was slightly open, and through the crack, the studious car repair apprentice could see a blonde mullet facing him, moving slightly as his arm did. Yawning once more and getting out of bed (running his the hand not covering his mouth through his hair), Zexion walked over to the door and opened it wider, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms.

"Just _what _do you think you are doing?" he asked softly, with a rude, irritated undertone, holding an arrogant stance. Demyx looked up and smiled.

"Oh, hey, Zex!" His smile wilted like a dying flower as he recognized Zexion's attitude and dark aura. He grinned weakly and held up his hand: in it was a sopping old rag. "I accidentally spilled some rubbing alcohol in front of your door and was cleaning it up, but..." Zexion's pale nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Why was there alcohol in the _first _place?" he asked tiredly, rubbing a hand over his stinging eyes. It was much too early, in his opinion, to have _anything _to do with alcohol, drinkable or not. Demyx shrugged and continued mopping up the mess with his wet cloth.

"I dunno. It was there in front of your door. I came over to check if you were still sleeping, and I... happened to... knock it over..." He was hesitant and sheepish, and made an adorable face in an attempt to win over Zexion and avoid his displeasure. Zexion gave him a long, hard look, and after a few minutes, turned around and shut the door, so he could change his clothes from his white shirt and black pajama pants to a black shirt with blue jeans. He stared at himself for a second in the mirror, watching the reflective glass indifferently, as he ran his hand through his hair once again, but this time, with the intention of dry-styling the strands into place. He sighed, moderately satisfied with his appearance, and opened the door once again, neatly stepping over Demyx's hunched form and making his way down the narrow staircase without even a look back.

It was Kairi who greeted him first upon his arrival to the table.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully. "How was your sleep?" Zexion shrugged and sat down at his place at the table, right across from Naminé's. She looked at him with a smile on her face, nonchalant, but he could sense the slight worry underneath it.

"I suppose I slept all right," he answered, as he reached for a plate, placing two waffles onto it. "I was just tired from my schoolwork last night."

Sora smiled.

"You made a rhyme."

"So I did." Zexion reached for a banana, peeled it, and began slicing the white fruit over his breakfast, pouring a small amount of syrup onto the fruit and waffles once it was all cut up. He clasped his hands in a prayer for a moment, before picking up his fork and breaking his fast.

It was nine-fifteen.

As Zexion ate his morning meal (accompanied with a glass of freshly-made orange juice and a soft-boiled egg), he smiled softly as the sounds of Axel, Roxas, and Kairi playing _Interdiction _reached the ears of those still at the table. Naminé, who was drawing another sketch, smiled as well as Roxas shouted out "_Yes! High score!_" and Axel challenged him to another mission. Sora, who was reading the newspaper's comics, laughed out loud as Kairi exclaimed in protest how _her _character had _so _totally beaten that Neoshadow; why was it still alive?

By and by, as the three finished another game, Demyx walked down the stairs, grinning like a fool and holding the rag, now looking as though it was threatening to drip alcohol, and saluted Naminé.

"Sir, alcohol all cleaned up now, sir!" Naminé giggled and put down her paper and pencils, and took the cloth from the blond.

"At ease! Thank you, Demyx. Is the smell still there?" Demyx shrugged and stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets.

"Yeah. I lit a candle and put it there so it would get rid of it. _It's not going to fall. _The house won't burn down!" he protested, at Naminé's face and expression. Zexion grinned, and bit back his laughter. Breakfast had done him good: his mood had lifted, and he had loosened up a bit. Work and school had wound him up pretty tightly lately, and it felt good to just let go of everything and _relax_. Not to mention that the waffles tasted wonderful.

Feeling a bit rebellious (not to mention a bit strange; had Axel spiked the food?), Zexion excused himself from the table and decided to get back at Demyx for waking him up so rudely in the morning. It was nothing really, just a harmless, innocent prank. He smirked deviously to himself as he prepared for Demyx's morning surprise.

The time was nine-forty-three.

* * *

><p>Demyx finished eating Second Breakfast, which was a sort of picklick* and brunch mixed together, and stretched, yawning. He walked away from the table (after thanking Sora for cooking the bacon), as he had been standing and eating the whole time since he had finished cleaning the spilled alcohol, and went upstairs to the second-floor bathroom to brush his teeth.<p>

As he entered through the open door, he looked up in surprise as he saw Zexion in there as well, retouching his hair and humming so softly it could have been imagined. His buttoned, black shirt was opened, revealing his toned chest, and Demyx blushed slightly at the sight, as well as from embarrassment at walking in on his friend.

"O-oh. Sorry, I'll just––" Zexion looked at the stammering Demyx through the mirror.

"No, it's okay, I was just about to leave. Go ahead." The slate-haired young man swept past the blond with a curious smirk on his face, leaving Demyx to wonder what had put him in such a good mood. He shrugged, and put the matter behind him, as he entered the bathroom, not bothering to close the door (after all, he would only be cleaning his teeth. And maybe comb his hair. Then perhaps clip his nails...), and began brushing his teeth.

After he deemed his pearly whites quite pearly, he reached for the mouthwash bottle and poured some into his cup, and, after spitting out the toothpaste into the porcelain basin, poured it into his mouth.

He froze for a split second as his brain registered the fact that the liquid _was not mouthwash_, and ordered him to immediately spit it out. He did, and coughed roughly at the cruel taste.

"What _was _that?" he wheezed.

Zexion, who had heard everything from the first floor, smirked to himself as he read the paper (borrowed off of Sora). Roxas noticed, and asked him why. His eyes went wide as Zexion explained the reason to him, and grinned as he understood.

"Hah. Great idea. I'll be sure _never _to spill alcohol in the morning, then." Zexion cast an amused eye over to the short blond.

"You're not even _allowed _to have alcohol in the morning, yet. Or at noon, or even at night for that matter." He sighed. "I see what Axel meant by pranks as being fun. Verily, it is, if done once in a while."

Roxas's blue eyes opened wider in surprise.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Zexion?"

"Who did this, and what have you done with my mouthwash?" countered Demyx, who was walking down the stairs, pale and still coughing. Axel and Kairi saved and quit their game and turned around to watch. Sora's eyebrows furrowed.

"Did what?" Demyx fumed.

"Someone replaced my mouthwash with _vodka_." Axel grinned widely.

"Honestly, I have no idea why you're complaining! _I _wouldn't've minded!" Roxas snorted.

"Yeah. Of course you wouldn't. But Demyx _hates _vodka, remember? Rum, too, for that matter. And whiskey. _Especially_ whiskey. Oh, and––"

"Can we get back on topic? Who did it?" cut in the peeved blond.

Zexion raised an eyebrow, and Demyx immediately connected that with his earlier smirk.

"You." The slatehead remained impassive, but with a tiny smile gracing his elegant face.

"Me." He nodded. Demyx stared at him in confusion.

"Why?" Naminé's, Sora's, Roxas's, Kairi's, and Axel's heads moved back and forth silently as they watched each person as they spoke. Zexion made a vague gesture with his hand.

"You woke me up with the stench of rubbing alcohol. I merely returned the favour in a different fashion." Demyx's face was torn between laughter and horror.

"I cleaned it up!"

"So you did." The blond sitarist and guitarist threw his hands up in frustration and turned on his heel, walking back upstairs, and closing a door shut. None of the six below could tell which.

"That was _brilliant_," breathed the redheaded man, with a hint of awe bleeding into his voice. He hadn't recalled the last time Zexion was this... human? Normal-seeming? But seeing him actually _prank _someone, and Demyx of all someones, was pretty damn cool.

Zexion flicked his aqua eyes at the speaker and grinned.

"It _is _fun, isn't it? Pranking someone?"

Everyone stared.

* * *

><p>The door Demyx closed was, in fact, Zexion's, and he entered the room with the intent of teaching that slatehead a lesson. The rubbing alcohol was an <em>accident<em>: he didn't have to go an switch mouthwash with _vodka_. Demyx shuddered and looked around the room for something to prank Zexion with. His searching gaze fell on the book Zexion was currently reading, titled _Lost Heterodoxy_; the silver-grey bookmark the junior had placed in between the pages caught his eye especially. Demyx grinned and, careful not to disturb the bookmark, slipped the cover jacket off of the thick tome. He searched the assorted bookshelves of varying sizes and looked for a similar-sized book, and inadvertently said '_Aha!_' as he found what he was looking for.

The book he had selected was titled _Otherwordly Tales_, and was of similar size and shape to _Lost Heterodoxy_. Demyx smirked as he worked quickly, switching the _Tales _cover jacket with the _Lost _one, and placing the real _Lost Heterodoxy_, now disguised as _Otherworldly Tales_, back in the bookshelf. He placed _Tales_, disguised as _Lost_, back where _Lost _originally was, and snickered to himself before sneaking out of his room and returning to his own.

Zexion walked back up the stairs and entered his room not two minutes later, and picked up the large book, not looking twice, and plopped himself down upon his comfortable, soft bed. Leaning against the headboard with his pillow as a cushion, Zexion opened the book and searched the pages for his silver bookmark. His slate-coloured eyebrows quirked in question as he searched in vain for it, and realized that it wasn't there.

_Could it have fallen out? _He shrugged and flipped back to page one, where the _Table of Contents _was, and began searching for chapter fifteen. He read in stunned surprise as the words he saw were not what he expected.

"Let's see... _Table of Contents_...hm? Vasilia the Beautiful? The Frog Princess? Hansel and Gretel? What on earth...?" He shut the book and glanced at the cover.

_Lost Heterodoxy _was written in silver, embossed letters on the purple cover. After a moment, the slate-haired youth sighed and leaned his head against the wall. Someone had switched the covers. And he had a _very _clear idea who...

* * *

><p>Demyx was once again downstairs, this time munching on a pear and watching <em>Double Edge <em>with Axel and Sora. It was a decent movie, in his opinion, but soon it grew boring, though Axel and Naminé seemed completely absorbed in the story. Demyx watched a few more minutes of the movie before leaving (neither audience member noticed immediately), and decided to go into the den. He took out his blue sitar and strummed it, and played for an hour or so, until it was eleven-twenty, and decided to go into his room.

Walking up the stairs, he hummed _Prince of Awesome _to himself (one of Zexion's least favourite songs; he had asked why anyone would name a song _Prince of Awesome_ if they wanted to sell it. It sounded arrogant) and opened the door to his room, before doing a double-take from shock.

The walls of his and Axel's newly refurbished and remade room were _completely _covered in beautiful, though mocking, drawings and paintings. It was a mural of children's stories, with a girl in a red hood next to a wolf, a yellow bear holding hands with a pink piglet, and several scenes from childhood stories coloured onto the white paint, stories Demyx had long insisted he had outgrown. The sitarist's eyes narrowed as he thought of the perfect revenge for the slatehead's intrusiveness and unauthorized entry into his room.

He waited until Zexion left his room to converse with Kairi downstairs to infiltrate the 'enemy's' 'territory'. Quickly and skillfully, Demyx carried over and dropped the rolls of posters in his arms onto the floor, and grinned as he pulled out tacks from his pocket and began inserting them into the walls. The green and yellow thumbtacks stood out loudly against the sallow walls, but Demyx merely ignored this fact as he hung up several of his band posters on Zexion's walls, where he had no chance of escaping their sight. He hid in his room once more and pretended to read a book as he waited for Zexion to return to his room.

* * *

><p>Zexion, who had been downstairs talking to Kairi and telling her how to get the 358 Attack Gear in <em>World That Never Was <em>to gain an advantage over Axel, heard a scuffle upstairs, more specifically in his _room_, and excused himself, grabbing a cookie on his way up, and entered his private quarters to inspect the damage.

_Hm... not as bad as it could have been_, he thought, as he surveyed his new 'decorations'. Band posters for groups Demyx was into, including his _infernal Wave Gigs_, _Do Not Enter, Up To Eleven, _and _Total Eclipse_ adorned his once-plain walls, hung up by green and yellow thumbtacks hammered haphazardly into the wood. Zexion shook his head and crossed his arms, shifting his weight onto one leg, and called the blond over.

"Demyx!"

Demyx walked over, with a little too much of a spring in his step, and a little too much of an innocent expression on his face, and saluted Zexion with two fingers.

"Yeah?" Zexion smirked as he tapped his book with the fingers of his right hand.

"Did you mess with my book covers?"

"Maybe..."

"Did you place these posters up here?"

"Perhaps..." Zexion sighed and grinned deviously.

"Of course, Demyx, you know that _this _means _war_."

"Oh really? Well in that case, we'll see who gets the last laugh. We _all _know pranks are one of my specialties."

"Of course. As well as _laziness_." Demyx stuck his tongue out childishly, to which Zexion also stuck his tongue out childishly, and the Prank Wars began.

The first official battle began as a result of Zexion taking Demyx's sitar and hiding it in his room. He made a sign with _Do Not Enter_ written in bold letters and hung the plaque up onto his door and balanced a bucket of water on top of his door to punish anyone who walked in without permission, and

waited for Demyx to make his move.

Demyx had not seen Zexion place a bucket of water on top of the door, and, upon opening the door abruptly to demand his sitar back, ended up being doused with water, much to the laughter of Roxas, who happened to walk by right at that moment, and Zexion.

To retaliate, Demyx waited until Zexion was asleep for a nap to dip the tips of his hair in ink, making only the ends black and wet, while making him smear the (washable) ink onto his face as he moved in his sleep. Zexion found out by a laughing (and dying from laughing) Axel, who pointed out the mess on his face.

Zexion struck back by replacing Demyx's hair gel with white pudding, and dumped a bucket of water on top of the blond's head, to ruin his hair. After a glare, Demyx disappeared into the bathroom, and did not come out for a full two hours later, as he was busy trying to wash out the pudding. Though his hair was ruined (and was now worn wet), Demyx grinned as he replaced Zexion's apple with a wax one, laughing as the slate-haired youth bit into the fake fruit and made such a face of disgust.

To strike back, Zexion turned Demyx's music all the way up, so that when the blond turned the stereo on, the blasting music (being at MAX and all) would shock the blond and teach him to switch his _food_. It worked for a while, until Demyx decided to take revenge by replacing Zexion's Beethoven CD with a Wave Gigs one, laughing as Zexion realized his mistake.

The rest of the household laughed at each and every joke, and Roxas even began taping it.

To up the ante, Zexion sent Demyx an anonymous message informing him of winning a Wave Gigs concert ticket. Demyx was all in a tizzy as he celebrated his good fortune, until Kairi pointed out that it was fake: the numbers were only 9's. The blond glared at the innocently reading junior after Kairi pointed the flaw out, and the junior winked back.

As revenge, Demyx changed Zexion's ringtone to Three Blind Mice to mock him.

Due to that, the blond found a mouse in his bed. To reciprocate against Zexion's actions, Demyx bought a black snake and brought it over, and hid it into Zexion's bed as well.

He didn't notice the poisonless python swallow the wriggling mouse whole, and wondered why it looked so _sated_.

Finally, it was past seven o'clock, and it was time for dinner. As the rest of the gang had not returned yet, the seven began eating early and made a truce for all of the practical jokes.

But what no one noticed was that, as soon as Demyx's back was turned, Zexion slipped in crushed sleeping pills into Demyx's pasta, knocking the younger blond out.

He smirked, sighed, and smiled softly to himself.

"Looks like I got the last laugh... I won, Demyx."

Yes. Sunday was definitely the day for pranks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh yuck. The beginning was better D: but I lost concentration (it's ONE AM PEOPLE! WOOOO~) and just... trailed off. I didn't want to miss my deadline! **

**WILL BE REWRITTEN! I promise. It'll be better, but I dunno when.**

***yaaaaaaaaaawn* Goodnight! Review? Please? I swear I'll make it better. Maybe after Hellfire Seas is updated... ^^;  
><strong>


	14. A Date For The Dance

**The Anti-Zemyx Day Fourteen**

**Title: **A Date For The Dance

**Genre: **Humour, Friendship, Romance

**Rating: **T

**Summary:**_ The irony here is just sickening._

**A/N: Enjoy! (**_Wooo! It's the last chapter! Will there be real, romantic Zemyx? Even I don't know yet! Read on!_**) MOSTLY SAME UNIVERSE as Chapter One :) **

**Warnings: **Eh, normal stuff, but there is some Final Fantasy crossover elements. The category STAYS.

* * *

><p>"Sora, will you <em>please <em>calm down?"

Riku Remnant, a young man with shoulder-length silver hair and stunningly sharp aquamarine eyes, grinned at his best friend, who was chattering excitedly to his companion, while simultaneously scribbling on a paper-laden clipboard. They were second- and third-in-command of the Dance Committee (with Kairi being first), and Sora Strife was absolutely _determined _to make it the best party ever. The dance was coming up in less than a week, and everyone was busy getting ready for the big gala. Sora smiled apologetically at his classmate.

"Sorry, Riku," he said, running a hand through his chocolate-brown spikes. "It's just... we have so much to do! There's the menu to make and the band and the decorations we have to fix; we have helpers but not enough chaperons... Hayner got the tickets, right? So we need to fix a price for that, and Zack said he'd be the photographer––"

Riku clamped his hand over Sora's mouth to quit his rambling. He grinned at Sora's nervous excitement, but knew that they would get little done if he remained so high-strung.

"Breathe. Take a deep breath and _relax_," the silveret instructed, removing his hand from Sora's face. Sora gave him a playful glare, but followed Riku's advice and sighed deeply. His expression softened, and his posture also visibly relaxed, showing proof that Riku's advice was indeed helping the young man.

"Alright..." he sighed, and smiled. "Thanks, Riku. I feel a little better..." He propped his face up on his hands, placing his elbows on the blue-and-white checker-clothed tabletop, and glanced over at his blond older brother, who was busy playing _Interdiction _with Xion and Axel, and smiled wistfully. "Y'know, Riku, you're so lucky to have all three of your brothers helping out on the team. Wish Roxas would offer to help too..." Riku laughed in good humour, smiling greatly and winding down his mirth to a chuckle after a few seconds.

"Kadaj and Loz barely do anything; it's mostly Yazoo and me who works in our family. Besides, I'm sure Roxas would offer to help if we had something he could do well, or had an interest in. What if you ask him to help us put up the decorations? After all, this year's theme is _A Final Fantasy_, so it's mostly abstract: misty swirls, constellation-filled night skies, stars, destinies, darkness and light, feathers and magic; sort of what _World That Never Was _is about, right? Roxas could have some ideas..." Sora cocked his head to the side and watched his brother play a blond character against Axel's redhead and Xion's one-winged angel on the TV screen in a dark land full of keys stuck in the ground. The blond was a customizable character, something Roxas had unlocked, and had equipped a black sword called _Oblivion_, and was currently fighting recklessly against Axel's avatar: his health bar had gone from green to yellow, and Axel still had three lives left. Of course, Xion was helping him at times as well, but being a neutral third-party player, also aided Roxas in his battle. Sora smiled.

"Yeah... maybe. But!" he exclaimed, snapping back to his nearly hyper, energetic attitude, "We need to get back to work! We have exactly six days left until the dance, counting today, and we have to get started! We haven't even begun on the couples' list!"

"Before we check off the couples who plan to attend, maybe we should work on other things with a higher _priority_, Sora. That can wait, but we need to book entertainment and chefs first; also, we should check out budget and focus on souvenirs, and then recruit chaperons, and as for the price of the tickets, we'll make them ten dollars each, since it's a fancy-pants party. After we get through all of that, we'll take a break, okay?" Sora nodded vigorously at Riku's words, and the silveret, laughing, had to force Sora's head to stop moving by clamping his hand down on his soft spikes and lock his arm.

The two worked at the table for an hour or two more, adding this, and fixing that, when Kairi, Naminé, and Xion walked down the stairs from their rooms and came over to the dining table. The youngest Remnant brother looked up at the three girls, and raised an eyebrow in question. Sora remained on his cell phone, calling up possible chaperons; Cid was on the line.

"Yes, can we help you?" Kairi and Naminé giggled behind their hands as Xion blushed and walked closer to the table, placing her hand near the fruit bowl.

"Um, Riku... We were... That is, I was wondering..." her blush darkened, and Riku graced her with a friendly smirk. "Do you... Will..." she sighed exasperatedly, before glancing back at her friends. They nodded encouragingly, and dissolved into a fit of giggles when the dark-haired girl turned around. "Would you like to go to the dance with me?" she asked, in a clear and firm voice, but with all the air of a shy and embarrassed person. Riku's smirk remained on his face.

"I wouldn't mind..." he said with a wink, making Xion blush _still _further, and causing her hands to fly to her face in an attempt to hide her apple-red cheeks; "_but_..." He paused for a dramatic effect, and smiled. "You'll have to give us your opinion on these designs," he said, pushing some papers towards her. Xion's face broke out into a smile as well, and she looked over her shoulder at her two best friends and gave them an air-high-five, before glancing down at the papers and gasping.

"Riku, they're _gorgeous_! I think the ball will be spectacular! But maybe you should change the colours _here_ from gold to silver, to pair with the white, to give it a better feel if the ceiling's going to be a night sky."

"There won't _be _a ceiling on the patio, and since half of it will be inside Hollow Bastion, that's where I thought we'd put the gold chairs, but I guess silver outside works as well." She voiced her opinions and Riku answered as she showed him what she thought by drawing imaginary lines on the paper with her finger, smiling all the while, thrilled that Riku had accepted her invitation, and he countered by debating their ideas and modifying what the two young men had originally thought up.

A few minutes later, the silveret took the clipboard from his brunet friend, and checked off _Decorations _on the list, and replaced it, just as Sora finished his call.

"Uh-huh. Great! Yeah, that'll be awesome. No, we won't. Yes, I promise. Of course. Thank you so much!" He sighed and slumped back down in his seat as he pressed the _End Call _button on his phone. "I just got off the line with Auron: he said he'd be a chaperon as long as there wasn't any drug-dealing or vandalism." Riku's eyebrow raised again.

"What did he say about alcohol?"

"He said he was cool with it as long as we didn't puke on his shoes. Oh, and I also got Cid, Rude, and Sephiroth to supervise!" His friend's mouth opened slightly.

"You _called _my _dad _to _chaperon_ the _dance?_" he asked incredulously. It wasn't that he was upset that his father would come to the party or anything, but he was deeply surprised that his father had even _answered _the phone. Sephiroth Remnant was one of the busiest members of the government, and was rarely even home at all; but at least at the dance, he would be able to talk to his father. He missed him greatly. Sora nodded gleefully.

"Yepp! Now you can meet him and do... whatever dads and their youngest kids do. After, of course, you dance with your partner. Hey, Xion!" he added, waving to the Japanese girl. Xion smiled, and tilted her head.

"Hello, Sora," she waved back. "You look like you deserve a break." Sora nodded, feigning weakness as he feebly checked off _Chaperons _one the clipboard, and grinned.

"I _feel _like I deserve a break. Riku, also. C'mon, let's get a snack and watch _Double Edge_!"

"Again?"

"Why not?"

* * *

><p>Larxene sighed as she flopped down onto her bed and hugged her white pillow close to her chest.<p>

"Hey Marly?" she asked, as she stared at the ceiling. There was a crack forming, and she imagined a spider crawling out and scuttling along the top of the room along to a corner, to build itself a web and catch dreams and flies withing the sticky silk. Marluxia, who was sitting on the wooden floor and leaning against her bed, did not look up from his book.

"Yes?" Larxene abandoned her pillow and rolled over onto her stomach, so she could just barely rest her hands on his head. Gently, she began tugging on his rose-coloured strands of hair as she mulled over things in her mind.

"Are you going to the dance?" The green-thumbed pink-haired blue-jeans-wearing man shrugged as he turned a yellowed page.

"I suppose. Are you?" Larxene shook her head, and began running her hands through Marluxia's silky tresses.

"No. I guess. Maybe. I don't really feel like going, but maybe I will. Not with you, though. No offense." She scooted closer to the edge of her bed, and kissed the tips of her fingers, lowering them to Marluxia's lips, and touching them lightly, to transfer the kiss. His lips remained on her fingers for perhaps a second longer than either of them expected. The blonde woman rested her chin on his head and smiled. "I want to go with someone else."

Marluxia memorized the page he was on and set down the thick book, and attempted to look up at his girlfriend.

"May I ask why?" His voice held no resentment or anger in it, just curiosity. Larxene Foudre shrugged, and kissed the top of his head.

"Just because. We're always together, we're dating, we're pretty close, and we have sex a lot and all that, but for this dance, I want to go with some guy who asks me out, just as friends." She looked down at him, tucking her chin slightly underneath. "Is that a problem?"

Marluxia smiled softly as he shook his head, purposely dislodging Larxene's perch upon his hair (earning him a light slap to his shoulder), and snaked his hand up to rest in her slicked back, blonde locks.

"No. Of course not. I guess I'll be going with Naminé, then." He leaned his head further back, and looked into her eyes with a mischievous glint. Larxene glared huffily at him, but lowered her lips to his until they were but a centimeter apart.

"Don't you dare do anything to her. Or with her." Marluxia shook his head once more, and whispered just before their lips met:

"Not a thing, I swear."

* * *

><p>Axel and Saïx sat in Axel's room, and were chatting pleasantly and reading when there was a knock on the door.<p>

"You can come in if you have a beer!" called out Axel with a grin on his face, somehow making the two purple, inverted-teardrop tattoos under his eyes seem more slanted. The knocker faltered, and Saïx gave Axel a Look. The redhead sighed and flipped his position on the bed so he was lying on his stomach, and shouted out to the knocker once more.

"I was joking, got it memorized? You can come in, ya know." There was a pause, and Sora opened the door hesitantly, though inside he was full of nervous anticipation. Axel grinned wider as he saw who it was.

"Hey, So-ra," he said in his drawling voice. "What brings _you _up here?" Sora gained a bit more confidence and walked in, bowing his head slightly to Saïx, who remained sitting on the floor with an _Omega Trinity _comic in his hands.

"You know how to cook, right?" Axel raised a thin eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I don't do it often anymore... Why?"

"We need cooks and chefs for the upcoming Dance, would you help us please?" Sora put on his very best Puppy-Dog-Face, the one he reserved for special cases _only_. Axel gave the young brunet an amused look.

"Maybe. What's on the menu so far?" Sora smiled, but reminded himself that Axel had neither said 'yes' nor 'no' yet.

"Um. We have Rainbow Croissants, Round Corn Soup, and Star Carrots among other appetizers; Marluxia's bringing salads and Larxene said she'd bring some spicy food; we've also planned Baked Gourd Potatoes and Bannock Bread, as well as 'Assorted Fish and Meats'; Aerith told us she was bringing drinks, and Zexion said he'd make the first course, but then you'd have to do the second and third... and we've planned Cherry Clusters and Striped Apple Pies for dessert."

There was a moment of silence after Sora's little speech. Axel looked thoughtfully at Saïx, and nodded.

"Alright. It sounds like you _do _need our help for your little par-tey, so we'll agree. Sure. Axel and Saïx are gonna cook the rest of the stuff, got it memorized?" The redhead smiled as he tapped the side of his head with a long, pale finger. Sora grinned widely and jumped on Axel, hugging the taller man.

"Thank you so much!" he said, before dashing off and leaving the two alone in the room with their _Omega Trinity _comic books. Saïx raised a blue eyebrow.

"We?" Axel glared at him.

"_Yes_. WE."

"Why?"

"We wouldn't break the kid's heart, would we? That would make us heartless!"

"You're quite capable of being heartless already yourself," Saïx muttered under his breath, but smirked and ducked as Axel threw his pillow at him.

* * *

><p>Hayner and Olette sat with their classmates Seifer, Rai, and Pence over by the clocktower uptown of the House, and were also discussing the Dance amongst themselves.<p>

"...so now I'm in charge of the tickets!" boasted Hayner proudly. Olette gave him a _you-shouldn't-boast_ kind of look, and the boy blushed slightly, but sheepishly. Seifer grinned and checked his phone.

"Well, check _this_. Fuu said she's driving the girls over to the dance as _guests_. The Gullwings aren't gonna sing tonight––"

"Thank _goodness_!" interrupted Pence through half of a cookie. Rai gave him a high five and Olette laughed, but Seifer merely narrowed his eyes at him.

"_Anyways_... so Fuu said she would be bringing Yuna, Rikku, and Paine over, but first they'd hang with us, and _then _go to that dance. They'll be staying at the _Merlin Motel_, so they can stay 'incognito', but anyways, they're asking around for dates! Bet that beats your little _ticket-selling _story, huh?" Seifer added, unable to resist from adding a snide remark. His and Hayner's rivalry had grown somewhat over the years, and each was keeping a vague tally on who was in the lead. Both reckoned that it was themselves, much to the amusement of the others.

"Wait, Fuu _said?_" Seifer rolled his eyes at the crumb-mouthed youth.

"Alright, alright, _Pence_, so she _texted_. It's basically the same thing. _But still_." His mouth curled into a grin, and he replaced his cell phone into his pocket. Hayner looked at Olette and hugged her with one arm.

"Well, don't suggest _my _name to the girls; I'm going with Olette!"

"Really? Because that's the first time _I've _heard of it. What if I said no?" She gave him a playful shove, but Hayner grinned.

"Oh, come on. Everyone knows you won't say no. But alright, I'm sorry. Oh, dearest Olette, more beautiful than the moon and stars, would you like to go to the dance with me?"

Olette giggled and blushed behind her hand, and nodded.

"Oh, of course, Sir Knight. I'd love to, provided that you pay." Hayner grinned.

"Pay? No, we get a free discount 'coz _I _work there!"

Seifer and Rai shook their heads, and Pence merely smiled at his two friends.

"I don't think I'll go," he said thoughtfully. "I don't like anyone, but... is the food free?"

"All you can eat." Hayner's four words changed Pence's mind immediately.

"I'm going!"

The five laughed good-naturedly, when a black Sedan rolled up beside them, the tinted windows slightly reflecting the twilight sun. Seifer stood up.

"Hey, that's Fuu's car..."

Sure enough, it was. A tall woman with lilac hair opened her car door and walked around, opening the

car doors for the three teen girls inside: Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, the Gullwings. The five friends looked on interestedly as the four females walked over to them. Fuu gave Seifer a rare smile; brief, but sweet.

"Hey." With a sweep of her arm, she introduced the three girls by pointing to each and saying their names. Rikku, the smallest and the only brunet, was the first to speak.

"Hey, guys! It's so nice to meet you! Fuu's told us a lot about you five!" Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, and Rai exchanged bewildered and awkward looks. Fuu _never _talked enough for anyone to say that.

Yuna, a blonde girl with incredibly long hair, stepped forward and tapped her forehead, tilting her head, and smiling in apology.

"Sorry about Rikku. Fuu's quiet, but she's a good friend. She has a lot of photos of you, and each has a caption, so that's why Rikku said what she did." She extended her hand to the five, and quickly shook their hands. Paine, young but with steely hair, remained standing with her arms crossed and a bored expression on her doll-like face. Olette smiled at her.

"Miss Paine, if your posture remains like that, I'm afraid the guys won't ask you out..." Paine looked at her before shrugging, and walked away, leaving Yuna embarrassed once again.

"Sorry about her too! She gets like that sometimes; she doesn't like new people and likes having time alone for herself. I don't know _why _she stays in the band, but she's the greatest dancer we have!" Rikku pouted childishly at this.

"I thought _I _was."

* * *

><p>Zexion walked back into his room with a sigh, tired after a particularly long talk with Aerith, Leon, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Aqua, and Yazoo about the dance. They still had five days left, but everyone was getting everything ready and <em>just right <em>for the special night. The slate-haired young man shook his head and sat down on his bed, before curling up under the covers and trying to fall asleep.

He could've sworn there was a plot against him, as Roxas, Naminé, Axel, and Demyx knocked on his door; Roxas and Axel entered his room, without so much as waiting for a reply, and the other two remained standing outside the door. Zexion flung off the covers and glared at the smiling boys and nodded at the blond(e)s. Naminé closed the door, and sat down cross-legged on the floor beside Zexion's bed.

"So, how was the meeting?" He looked at Naminé in question.

"You couldn't hear?" She and Demyx shook their heads. "Why didn't you join the meeting?"

"Yazoo... kind of... kicked us out," admitted Roxas sheepishly. Demyx grinned as Zexion rolled his clear aqua eyes at the blond.

"Do I want to know why?"

"No. But we'll tell you anyways. We started a water fight and got some water on the papers Sora and Riku were working on..." Naminé glared at Roxas.

"Honestly! Sora's your brother; just because he's a little younger than you doesn't mean you have to be mean to him!" Roxas's hands went up in defense; Axel took his opportunity to wrap his arms around Roxas to hug him, but the older Strife brother grinned and slipped out before Axel could tighten the hold. He turned around to stick his tongue out at Axel––

"I'll do something you won't like if you don't stick your tongue back in your mouth..."

––and turned again to face Naminé, with his hands still up.

"I didn't _mean _to get the papers wet! It was just that Axel was _right behind _the table and I had a clear shot at him!"

"But those papers are important! It's got all the dance info on there!" Demyx protested, noting how Zexion was shaking his head at the chaos. "Which, speaking of, brings us back to our original topic. How was the meeting, Zexion?" Zexion, too, crossed his legs like Naminé, on his bed, and shrugged.

"It was rather boring, actually. Riku was talking about the decorations; Roxas, you're to help them with that. Sora was a little upset, but was talking about how they got chaperons; Terra and Aqua were fussing over souvenirs, which are going to be little keychains of keys, with each guest's name inscribed on the key, by the way..." Demyx's hands flew to his mouth in a comical display of shock.

"What? You ruined the surprise! Noooo!" He fell to his knees, and looked so silly, Zexion couldn't help but smile, along with the others. However, he soon regained his impassive expression and shrugged.

"_You _asked. Anyways, Axel, you and Saïx are going to help Aerith cook for the dinner. Marluxia's bringing salads, and––"

The redhead shook his head, his spikes bouncing slightly with the movement.

"Yeah, I know, So-ra told me. Give us _news_," he grinned. Naminé had her hands on Zexion's bed now, and had nestled her head in her arms, looking up at the slate-haired junior. Zexion looked down.

"There really isn't much else. Kairi was talking about how Zack Fair will be going to act as our official photographer, and how her godfather was going to bring some of his office members down to the dance as well. '_The entire city's going to show up!_' she said excitedly. I think she's exaggerating quite a lot, because if she isn't, we're in a lot of trouble." Naminé giggled quietly, but stifled them quickly.

"What did Leon say?" she inquired curiously. Zexion looked into her blue eyes as he answered.

"He was talking about security, and how we should _not_, Axel and Roxas, under any circumstances, draw the attention of the police. Especially because some Topside guests were going to attend, such as Luxord Fate and Setzer Gabbiani."

The two best friends grinned innocently as Zexion called out their names, and paused in their wresting game to salute Zexion arrogantly. Demyx frowned.

"But what about the _music? _The bands? The entertainment? Did they discuss _those?_" Naminé and Roxas smiled at Demyx's pleading voice. Zexion rocked slightly on his bed, and tilted his head, so that his layered, messy slate-coloured bands fell into his face, shielding his eyes.

"I suppose..." he said lightly, teasing Demyx by not elaborating. He took a little enjoyment in seeing Demyx pout and protest, and relented after a few minutes.

"_Yes_, Demyx, they did discuss music and such, but only barely. We do know that the first song will be for the opening dance, and will be _Passion_; a traditional ball dance, to open the dance. Three special guests will be attending the dance as well, but won't be singing, and are just attending as normal people. Rude may act as a DJ, but if he doesn't, Sora's working on getting Cloud's help on booking some bands like _Interlude_, _Power Chord_, _Birth By Sleep_, and _The Keyblade_. There will also be plenty of games for everyone, including a dunking booth, and several dance games." Axel gave him a strange look.

"Zex... this is a _formal dance_. A dunking booth would look a little outta place, don't ya think? All the chicks will be in fancy dresses, and the guys will be in tuxes."

"Sora insisted..." Everyone else nodded, especially Roxas, at those two words.

Silence followed, and the pause became increasingly awkward, until Naminé burst into laughter from the inelegant pause. The laughter was contagious, and it was not long until everyone else began laughing as well.

Axel, who had been leaning against the wall the whole time, stood up straight, and stretched, yawning loudly, before tossing Zexion a two-fingered salute and leaving the room, muttering, "Well, if that's all..."

The remaining four began talking casually amongst themselves, when suddenly Naminé looked up from her conversation with Demyx (who lay on his stomach, on the floor, as he did not want to get knocked off by a pillow from Zexion for asking to lay on his bed) and asked Zexion:

"Where's Vanitas? I haven't seen him all day!"

Roxas and Zexion looked at each other before shrugging at the blonde girl.

"I'm sorry. I don't know."

"Maybe he went out, y'know? For a walk? With that creepy-as-_hell _mannequin he has?"

"Why would he go out for a walk with such a creepy doll?" Demyx asked innocently. Roxas shrugged.

"I dunno. But I haven't quite put it past him yet."

* * *

><p>It was sunset when Vanitas climbed on top of the clocktower (whereas Seifer and his gang were standing beside it), and gazed out at the sky, his black leather jacket remaining strangely cool inside. Vanitas's legs dangled off the edge of the banister, the late afternoon breeze fluttering his black, torn jeans slightly. He enjoyed his orange-bathed silence for several minutes, when a slight scuffling sound alerted him of his unexpected company.<p>

Leisurely, casually, he turned around, and saw a girl standing uncomfortably a little ways behind him. Her right hand was on her left elbow, and she alternated between looking at him and looking at the ground. She had steel-silver hair, and wore a black half-tanktop with a black vest, paired with black shorts, black longstockings, and black boots. She had ornamental wings on her back, and had a bright red belt around her waist, matching the red colour of her irises. Vanitas gave her a once over and looked at her in her eyes.

"Yeah?" The girl looked away, perhaps she was angry at being talked to as such? But after a few seconds, she walked over to the boy and sat down next to him, swinging her long legs over the banister. Vanitas stared at her, surprised at her actions, but said nothing. They sat like that, enjoying the view of the shrinking sunset, for a long time, until the sun had completely disappeared, before they spoke.

"My name's... Paine," she said, not looking at him. Vanitas shrugged.

"Cool. Vanitas." Paine paused for a moment, and, hesitantly, leaned her head against his shoulder, resting it lightly on his bony deltoid.

"You're one of the Gullwings."

She nodded.

"I don't really care for your music."

She shrugged.

"Will you be in town for the dance?"

She nodded. Vanitas did as well.

"Well, if you want, I'll take you."

In response, Paine snuggled _just _a bit closer to the dark-haired, amber-eyed young man.

* * *

><p>The House's doorbell rang twice, causing a murmur among its tenants as to who it could <em>possibly <em>be, because everyone they knew either usually just walked right in, or knocked. Aqua and Terra walked up to the door and opened it, revealing eight smiling minors standing outside.

"Er... Not to be rude, but who are you guys?" asked Terra, his loose brown pants fluttering slightly in the breeze. The frontmost minor walked up and took off his hat, revealing short, blond hair. Aqua gasped slightly in recognition.

"_Oh_. It's okay, Terra, it's just Hayner and his friends." The two opened the door wider, and watched as the eight of them walked past, introducing themselves as they entered the living room.

They were Hayner, Olette, Pence, Seifer, Rai, Fuu, Yuna, and Rikku, and Hayner and Seifer were there to see how the dance preparations were coming along, with the rest of the gang only coming to hang out with the tenants. Yuna and Rikku, though, were only there to get some dates.

Aerith, Leon, Aqua, Terra, Yazoo, Sora, and Riku looked at each other somewhat awkwardly, and smiled at the guests and told them to take a seat, as they figured out what to do with their unexpected company. The seven remained in the kitchen as the eight turned on the TV, and whispered quietly to each other.

"Aren't those... the chicks from that one band Kairi likes?"

"Yeah... well, two of them anyways. The goth-looking one isn't there."

"Good, well, if Yuna and Rikku just want dates, then we can just pair them up with whoever's single," Aqua said. "I just don't want them to see our special surprises!" Terra laughed at Aqua's words and hugged her tightly, kissing her behind her ear.

"Well, neither do we, but we also don't want to be rude and just kick them out."

"But you're part French."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"_You guys!_" hissed Aerith. "We should just put everything away and be good hosts; we still have four days and some hours left before the dance."

"We're keeping track of hours now, too?"

"_Sora!_"

"Sorry!"

Yazoo remained quiet during the entire conversation, but agreed with Aerith's idea and helped them all hide away the plans and ideas.

In the living room, the eight friends were shortly joined by Roxas, who had come downstairs from Zexion's room to get a drink of water. At the sight of his friends from college, he grinned and ran over, forgetting about the drink.

"Hayner! Pence! Olette! Why're you guys here?" Seifer rolled his eyes and smiled, draping an arm over Fuu's shoulders.

"I see, ignore the rest of us and carry on like we don't exist..." Olette giggled behind her hand and hugged Roxas.

"We just dropped by to hang around a bit, since it was getting late, and to get Yuna and Rikku acquainted with some new friends. They'll be staying for the dance, and we didn't want them to be wallflowers!" A girl wearing a bright yellow shirt and shorts, with a red-and-orange scarf around her neck, waved to him cheerfully, bringing a faint memory to Roxas's mind, giving him the impression that he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place where. He hesitantly waved back, though he smiled as well, and she walked over to him. Rikku, the girl on her right with brown hair and a blue outfit, squealed behind her hands and grinned at the yellow-girl, before engaging everyone around her in a random conversation to give the two people 'alone time', like in the romantic movies she enjoyed watching.

"Hi! I'm Yuna!" she introduced her self, as she extended a hand for him to shake. Roxas took it, and smiled with more confidence at her. She seemed younger than him, like a high-school student, but didn't seem at all ditzy or bubbleheaded.

"R-Roxas." _Why did I stutter? I should know my own name by now, I've had it for nineteen years..._ Yuna smiled at Roxas's little stutter, and engaged him in a quite interesting conversation, when suddenly, at the word '_Teenybopper_', he remembered where he had seen her before.

"You're Yuna from The Gullwings!" he said suddenly, snapping his fingers. Yuna blushed deeply, though from flattery or embarrassment, he could not tell.

"Y-yeah. I know," she said shyly. "Do you listen to our music?"

Roxas fiercely bit back the sarcastic remark the cynical part of his brain desperately wished to say, and shook his head instead.

"No, but one of my friends, her name is Kairi, and she likes you guys a _lot_. Like, it's not even funny, a lot."

Regardless, Yuna laughed anyways.

"You're really funny, Roxas," she said softly. "Would you mind going with me to the dance?"

Roxas was taken aback for a moment, but nodded after a moment's reprieve.

"Sure! Since you're new around here, I could take you out tomorrow, to see the town." Yuna paused for a moment, uncertain, and Roxas saw that she thought he was asking her out. "Just as, y'know, friends," he added quickly, before laughing. "It's just a bit too soon for us to be _dating_." Yuna's face brightened, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! That sounds like fun!" The two rejoined the conversation in the living room, and Yuna passed her friend a quick wink.

"_Thanks_," she whispered. Rikku giggled and nodded.

"_Anytime_."

While the nine people in the living room conversed with one another, being joined by Aerith, Aqua, and Terra moments later, Yazoo pulled aside his younger brother and whispered into his ear.

"_Go tell your blonde friend to keep that fangirl away from the singers. We don't need drama._" Riku nodded and quickly exited the kitchen and jumped the stairs two at a time to quickly get to the third landing. He quickly checked the rooms, but did not see Naminé in any of them. The silveret quickly ran down to the second floor, and immediately checked Zexion's room.

He found Naminé using Zexion's laptop, showing him something apparently funny online, and smiled a little at their cuteness. He cleared his throat and knocked on the door at the same time to get their attention, and bowed his head at Zexion.

"Er, Naminé. I need you for a bit..." The young blonde nodded, smiled, and hugged the slate-haired young man before leaving his room, taking care to close the door behind her as she left.

"Yes, Riku?" she asked. Riku looked both ways as he led her up the stairs.

"Long story short, we've got company, and Gullwings singers Yuna and Rikku are downstairs: your job is to keep Kairi and Xion from going downstairs until they leave, okay? Please?" Naminé sighed, but then nodded and put on a cheerful face again, fist pumping the air.

"Okay! I'll do it, and I won't let you down!" Riku hugged her briefly in thanks, and ran back downstairs, taking care to not trip and fall like Demyx had earlier.

_Speaking of him, where is he? _

Riku peered into the slightly open door of Axel's and Demyx's room, and immediately wished he hadn't. The floor was strewn about with _Omega Trinity_ comics and action figures (along with the sleeping figure of Saïx), and, put simply, the room was a mess. He chuckled to himself while shaking his head, and returned downstairs to help his brother.

* * *

><p>Naminé sighed as she leaned against the wall in front of Kairi's and Xion's shared room, hoping (then later regretting the hope as it was rude) that Yuna and Rikku would leave soon. She hummed lightly to herself, but jumped when Larxene's door opened slightly, and Larxene walked out. The tall, blonde woman did not seem to have noticed Naminé, and ignored her as she went down the narrow staircase. Soon after, Marluxia walked out of Larxene's room, but, instead of going downstairs, walked over to Naminé.<p>

She wondered for a moment why he wasn't following her, but snapped her attention back to reality when he began speaking to her.

"Good evening, Naminé," he said in his drawling voice. It was cold, but there was a large, gentle warmth behind it. Naminé nodded meekly.

"Good evening, Marluxia. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you. I trust you are as well?" Naminé nodded.

"Yes..." Marluxia smirked, and leaned against the wall with her, copying her position.

"Will you be going to the dance?" he asked softly. Naminé's heart began beating a tiny bit faster, but she had no idea why: it wasn't as though she _liked _Marluxia in that way; he was _Larxene's._

"I had thought... that I may go. Will you?"

"Yes, I will. I was wondering, Naminé, if you already had someone to go with? Because if you did not, I would like to ask you to accompany me to the gala."

Naminé froze. Even her blood stopped in her veins, and her brain seemed as though it had died,

_Did Marluxia just... ask me... out? _

"Er... Well, I..." Marluxia grinned.

"If you want, you could ask Larxene if she's okay with this. She told me that it would be alright, as long as I didn't do anything to you or with you, besides things people only friends do." He smiled; a strand of pink hair fell into his face. "So, are you interested?"

Naminé weighed her choices for a moment, then nodded.

"Of course, Marluxia," she said graciously. "Thank you, I'd love to go."

Marluxia smirked to himself, and quickly pulled her into a hug, content that she had not turned him down. Naminé could smell the scent of roses on him strongly, and wondered if Larxene smelled of roses as well, for being so close to him for so long. After a minute or so, Marluxia released her, and winked, before heading downstairs and leaving a stunned, breathless Naminé to continue standing watch over Kairi's and Xion's room.

_We're just friends; he has Larxene. We're just friends; he has Larxene. We're just friends..._

* * *

><p>Back in the living room, the atmosphere had grown friendlier, and Hayner and his friends were just about to leave, when the front door opened once again, and Vanitas walked in with Paine, linked arm in arm. Everyone turned to look at who had entered, and stared at the couple. Vanitas's cold, golden eyes surveyed the room with impassiveness, and he took her to the kitchen to grab a drink.<p>

Larxene and Marluxia, who had regrouped downstairs, watched with shock at the two gothic minors grabbed a soda each.

"...Wow," Larxene Foudre managed after a moment. "They really... look good together."

"Yeah..."

"Like us." Marluxia awoke from his slight daze and gave Larxene a devious smirk.

"We're better." Larxene smiled, and gave him a quick kiss before walking into the kitchen to talk to the two.

"Vani? Who's your friend?" The two continued talking, not aware that Larxene was talking to them, and inadvertently getting her irritated. After two more tries, she sighed loudly and stood _quite _close to them. "Hey, Gothic and Gothica! Pay attention!"

_That _caught their attention, and the two turned to look at Larxene. She smirked.

"You two are cute together. But don't get cocky. And Vanitas, sorry, but she can't stay the night tonight. Go to _her _place if you want to have some fun." She winked at them, and a faint blush painted Paine's cheeks. Vanitas gave her an even glare, complete with an almost-half-smile, and watched as Larxene walked away and back to Marluxia, whispering in his ear and smiling as he laughed out loud.

Paine gave him a questioning look, and Vanitas shook his head.

"She's crazy, but she's also just being Larxene. If she likes you, you're lucky. If she doesn't like you, your life can get _very _miserable, _very _quickly." Paine gave him a small smile, and gave him a tiny kiss on his cheekbone. In shock, Vanitas touched the spot where her lips touched him lightly, and smiled as his cold heart melted a little bit more.

* * *

><p>The next day found Sora and the Committee a bit more stressed, but luckily, no guests were there to interrupt their plans. Everyone was downstairs (including Kairi, who was, fortunately, still unaware of just who had visited their house last night; Naminé had done her job well), and there were three days left.<p>

Sora had finished his breakfast and was busy looking over the checklist once again, and began asking everyone who they knew would be going as a couple. He managed to accumulate an extensive list, and, being quite proud of himself, posted a copy of the paper on the wall. It read:

_Confirmed Couples for the Dance_

Sora and Kairi

Vanitas and Paine

Marluxia and Naminé

Tifa and Cloud

Leon and Aerith

Terra and Aqua

Xion and Riku

Roxas and Yuna

Hayner and Olette

Seifer and Fuu

Alice and Peter

Zack and Ariel

Axel and Saïx examined the note, and the latter sighed as the former grinned.

"Hey, Sai, let's go together. No homo. But as buds, ya know?" Saïx looked over at his friend, and furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, exaggerating his scar by accident.

"I don't suppose I have a choice..." Axel grinned and shook his head.

"Damn right." Xion giggled behind her hand as she passed by the two friends and accidentally overheard the details of their talk.

"There is no need to swear," she said sweetly. Axel gave her a look and smiled between a smirk and a grin.

"There's no need, but that doesn't mean I won't. Besides, if I hadn't asked Sai here to go with me to the dance, he'd probably go to that office where Xemnas works and just go all crazy about _cardiac research_. Sound SO interesting," he teased. The three laughed in good humour, when the door opened again and Reno walked in. He was greeted by a ton of cheers and hugs, as he was quite popular among the 'family', and hugged Axel in greeting. The two brothers conversed with each other for a while, when Reno asked Axel who he was going with.

"Sai," he shrugged. "If I hadn't asked, he wouldn't've gone, and would've missed all the fun!"

"Oh really?" asked Reno slyly. "Are you sure you just haven't switched tracks for good this time?" Axel gave his brother a glare (Reno merely laughed good-naturedly) and punched him lightly in the arm.

"Who're _you _going with, then?" he asked his older sibling. Reno smirked.

"Larxene. Tifa's going with Strife."

"You asked Larxene already?" Reno grinned.

"Good point. HEY, LARXENE!"

Larxene, who had been eating yogurt with the girls, looked up at the taller redhead and gave him a questioning glance.

"WHAT?"

"DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME?" he asked quite loudly. The room went still, and Larxene almost blushed. She shrugged and willed the blush away.

"SURE."

Axel stared at his brother with a new kind of admiration and respect.

* * *

><p>It was an hour before the dance, and several people were still inside the apartment, getting ready to leave for the gala, when Naminé knocked quietly on Zexion's door.<p>

"Come in," he said, saving his documents and closing his laptop. Naminé opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her, and sat down on Zexion's bed.

"You should take Demyx to the dance," she said simply, without hesitation, without preamble. Zexion stared at her incredulously.  
>"What?"<p>

"You should take Demyx to the dance," she repeated. "He really likes you, you know. Why not take him? It'll make him better." She smiled at her slate-haired friend as she excused herself and left the room to Zexion and his thoughts.

Ten minutes later (600 seconds used to prepare himself for the inevitable embarrassment and come to terms with the fact that he was about to ask out a guy), Zexion found himself outside of Demyx's room, knocking on the wood.

"_Yes?_ Just a minute!"

_This is for Demyx. To make him happy. Yeah. But only because Namine suggested it.  
><em>

"You can come in now!"

Zexion swallowed and opened the door, to find Demyx sitting on his bed and strumming his sitar.

"Er..." Zexion straightened up a bit more and sighed. "Would you care to accompany me to the dance tonight, Demyx?" he asked with a bow and an outstretched hand. Demyx gave him an amused look.

"Hmm, what was that?"

"I asked you out to the dance. Would you like to go with me?"

Demyx grinned deviously as he thought up the perfect response, _just _to bother Zexion, who he knew wouldn't go if he didn't have to.

"No, thank you," he replied. "I think I'll stay home tonight."

Zexion stood in shock as his brain recognized that Demyx had just turned down a date.

_The irony of this is just sickening._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wait for the fifteenth chapter guys! Some previous chapters will be edited, I know one or two will be rewritten, especially Thirteen, and all loose ends and questions will be answered in the Epilogue! Thank you guys so much! I'm going to miss working on this! (**_Really? _**Yeah.) I love you all! Goodnight/morning (it's two thirty O.o ) ****  
><strong>


	15. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hey guys. Well, _The Fourteen Days of the AntiZemyx _is finally over! I already miss working on this challenge; it was really fun (albeit tiring, exhausting, and frustrating) to have to write _every single day_, and upload that chapter per day while having a decent amount of words and as few errors as possible. Seeing as I stayed up until past midnight for many of these, I can see that there are a couple mistakes, and I'll set to work on cleaning those up. Chapter Two's already been edited (I have no idea why the thunder sound had not originally appeared; it's there now!), and Chapter Thirteen is about to be, as is Chapter Fourteen. I had so much fun, and I wanted to thank you ALL (whether you reviewed or not) for reading this story!

Props to WeDidItForTheDead, Obsidian Rush, Hope Eternal, (get an account!), and everyone else who stuck with me to the end (two weeks is pretty long). I owe you guys so much, thank you for your reviews! They really helped me keep going, and some had inspiring ideas!

One thing I sort of regret is that very few of you answered the questions/quizzes, but that's okay. Maybe if I had been updating sporadically, then you'd reply, but then there'd be no point to my two-week challenge!

I received quite a few questions about the story (thank you to everyone who messaged!), and so down below is the FAQ (why not?). Thank you so much guys, once again. I hope to update my other stories soon!

Lots of love,

The Author.

* * *

><p><strong>FAQ <strong>

1. _Why would you call it the 'AntiZemyx?' You had some fluff in here, and a little romance between the two. _

Ah, yes. Well, I titled it 'AntiZemyx' because while there was fluff and lots of little plots, Zexion and Demyx never quite got a romantic ending.

2. _You said 'mostly unrelated'. Hello? They seemed like a continuation of sorts for the most part. _

My apologies? The ones not sequels to each other could have been read on their own. The setting was what tied them together (with the House/apartment, and social structure), but I apologize if that mislead you.

3. _What is a 'picklick'? _

If you have not read _The Gammage Cup_, I suggest you do so if you can. It's a great book, but in around the middle, Curly and Muggles and everyone else go have a picnic, but instead they called it a picklick: you pick out what you want to eat, and you lick your fingers when you're done. It's basically eating finger-food when you feel like it. It's not quite a snack, but isn't a meal. Just eating for the sake of it, or to sate your slight hunger.

4. _Why does Vanitas have a mannequin that looks just like him? _

Hahaha, it was mostly for that one scene, and for kicks. I mean, come on! It was so ridiculous, spontaneous, and random, don't tell me it didn't make you pause for a moment.

5. _What happened on Christmas? You referred to it in your first chapters, and I want to know what they're talking about! _

No. Trust me, you do _not _want to know. ;)

6. _ShinRa and Reno are in this. Why didn't you sort it into a Crossover? _

Well, I'd say that it was because this was 9 parts Kingdom Hearts, and 1 part Final Fantasy.

7. _Why is Naminé usually the one paired with Zexion? Since you said there would not be any AkuRoku, you could've paired Zexion with Axel! _

Yes, yes I could have, but I don't really like Axel with Zexion. Flamin' bastard _watched _Zexion die, then walked away as if nothing had happened. Killing the Cloaked Schemer for your own gains is wrong.

Also, why not pair Naminé with Zexion? Both are intelligent, and I think they look cute together. And keep in mind I said _'slight yaoi_'.

8. _What's up with Day Twelve? Where did the fluffiness go? It got all dark and scary! _

Sorry. I wanted to try out a new genre :)

9. _Why, in your other chapters, were Xion and Vanitas so lovey-dovey, but in your last one, Xion was with Riku and Vanitas was with Paine? _

Well (I reworded your question, btw. Well, it wasn't really a question to begin with, but this is for everyone else who was confused), I did state that it was 'mostly [the] same universe', and the characters and settings were just the same; it was at a different time period (or an AU of an AU), and I wanted to try pairing Vanitas with Paine. But Riku and Xion don't really click it, with me, you know? Because Riku pwns Xion in 358!

10. _What are the connections in the Thirteenth Chapter? _

Ah. Yeah. WeDidItForTheDead got some, but **here are the answers!**

Rubbing alcohol and Vodka (both are alcohols)

Vodka and the Valisia the Beautiful children's story (both originated in Russia)

Children's stories and the Mural (both depict fairy-tale scenes)

The Mural and the band posters (decorations on the walls)

Poster for the band _Do Not Enter_ and the plaque _Do Not Enter _(self-explanatory)

The sign _Do Not Enter _was accompanied by a bucket of water to douse Demyx should he walk in; his hair became wet, and to retaliate, he dipped Zexion's hair in liquid as well, though the ink was black and smeared on his face

As Zexion's hair had been ruined, he decided to ruin Demyx's hair as well, by replacing his hair gel with pudding

Pudding and apples are both edible, and had been switched with something else

Wax and MAX rhyme (too subtle, maybe? Think outside the box!)

MAX and replacing the Beethoven CD were both unexpected surprises in the music category

Wave Gigs replacement CD and Wave Gigs concert ticket alert (self-explanatory)

Concert ticket alert and Three Blind Mice ringtone (cellphone related)

Three Blind Mice and the mouse in Demyx's bed (again, self-explanatory)

Mouse in Demyx's bed and snake (both animals in beds (also, there was a black snake of jealousy in Chapter Three! Subtle reference))

Snake ate the mouse to Demyx ingesting the sleeping pills (ingestion, and satiation)

Once again, thank you guys so much! I owe you all a lot :D Take care, and until next time!

~MidnightSchemer13


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